Umeshu Plum Wine | Japanese Liqueur Recipe
This famous Japanese liqueur, umeshu plum wine, offers delightful sweet and tangy flavors with the fruity fragrance of ume plums. Requiring only 3 ingredients, this drink is very easy to make. It's perfect for parties and as a homemade gift for your loved ones!
Servings: 1.8 liters
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2.2 pounds unripe Japanese ume plums
- 1.1 pounds rock sugar
- 60 fluid ounces shochu or a white liquor like a flavorless vodka
Instructions
- Rinse the plums and soak in clean water for 2 hours.
- Thoroughly dry the plums with a towel and pick out the stems with a toothpick.
- In a large glass jar, place a layer of the plums and cover them with a layer of rock sugar. Repeat the process with the remaining plums and sugar. You can use more than one jar, but make sure the sugar is half the weight of the plums in each jar.
- Pour the liquor into the jar. The liquid should be a little bit above the plums.
- Close the lid tightly and store the jar in a cool and dark place for at least 6 months. After 6 months, your umeshu is ready to drink.
Notes
- Make sure you really throughly dry the plums before you layer them in a jar. Otherwise, they can get mushy, and this won't be good for your plum wine.
- Although homemade umeshu plum wine is ready to drink in six months, they say the longer you steep the plums, the better the umeshu tastes. I've tried 2 years and it was amazing. If you want to test the differences, you can try making many jars in one go and open them at different times - say, 6 months, 1 year, 1.5 years or longer.
- Don't throw the plums away! By the time your drink is ready, the plums won't be sour anymore because they've been steeped in liquid with sugar for so long. They actually taste quite good and make for a great garnish as well. If you fancy, you can also use them to make jam or in desserts.