Umeshu

Ingredients

Steeping

• 1 kggreen ume plums, hard and unblemished
• 700 grock sugar
• 1.8 litreswhite liquor (shōchū at 35%), or vodka

Equipment

• a 4-litre glass jar with a wide mouth and a tight lid
• a bamboo skewer or cocktail stick

Directions

1. Use ume that are green and rock hard. Ripe yellow ones give a cloudy, muddy umeshu that ferments rather than steeps, and they are the commonest mistake.
2. Soak the plums in cold water for two to four hours to draw out bitterness, then drain.
3. Pick out the small black stem from the dimple of each plum with a skewer. Left in, it makes the finished liquor bitter — it takes twenty minutes for a kilo and it is worth every one of them.
4. Dry every plum completely with a cloth. Any water left on them clouds the jar and can start a fermentation you do not want.
5. Sterilise the jar with boiling water or a splash of the spirit and dry it fully.
6. Layer the plums and rock sugar alternately in the jar, finishing with sugar on top, then pour over the spirit.
7. Seal and keep somewhere cool and dark. Rock sugar dissolves slowly on purpose — it draws the plum juice out gradually over weeks rather than all at once, which is why granulated sugar is not a substitute.
8. Swirl the jar gently once a week for the first month. It is drinkable at three months, good at six, and considerably better at a year. Take the plums out after a year or they begin to turn bitter.

Technique

• Remove every stem and dry every plum. Those two steps are the whole difference between clear umeshu and a cloudy bitter one.
• 35% shōchū is the standard strength and it is not arbitrary — below about 20% the mixture can start fermenting instead of steeping.
• Japanese law carves out a household exemption for exactly this, which is why umeshu is made in ordinary kitchens where home brewing otherwise is not.

Substitutions

• Vodka or a neutral 35 to 40% spirit in place of shōchū.
• Brandy, which gives a rounder, heavier umeshu.
• Honey for some of the rock sugar, though it dissolves faster and changes the extraction.

Variations

• The steeped plums are eaten afterwards, or cooked into jam.
• Green shiso added part-way through turns it pink.

History

Home-steeped since the Edo period; a 1962 liquor-tax exemption legalised household brewing, making summer ume-steeping a domestic ritual.

Frequently asked questions

What is Umeshu?

Umeshu is a wine & spirit from Japan: green ume plums steeped with rock sugar in spirit, sweet and tart. Home-steeped since the Edo period; a 1962 liquor-tax exemption legalised household brewing, making summer ume-steeping a domestic ritual.

How long does Umeshu take to make?

Umeshu takes 40 min plus 3 months to 1 year of preparation and no cooking at all. The recipe makes makes about 1.8 litres. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Umeshu?

Yes, within limits. Vodka or a neutral 35 to 40% spirit in place of shōchū. Brandy, which gives a rounder, heavier umeshu. Honey for some of the rock sugar, though it dissolves faster and changes the extraction.

What is the most important thing to get right in Umeshu?

Use ume that are green and rock hard. Ripe yellow ones give a cloudy, muddy umeshu that ferments rather than steeps, and they are the commonest mistake.