Umeshu (梅酒, homemade plum liqueur)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •4-liter glass fruit-liquor jar (kajitsushu-bin) with a tight lid
• •Bamboo skewer or toothpick
• •Kitchen scale
• •Clean towels
• •Funnel and clean bottles for decanting

Instructions

1. 1

   Choose the ume

   Sort the ume one by one. Keep only firm green fruit with taut skin and no bruises, cuts, or brown patches. Bruised fruit clouds the liquor and can spoil in the jar, and no amount of sugar makes a tired ume honest again.

   Green ume are the point here. Yellow, perfumed ume can make a softer liqueur, but this clear early-summer style belongs to hard ao-ume.
2. 2

   Rinse and soak

   Rinse the ume under cool running water. If they are very hard and green, soak them in fresh cold water for 1 to 2 hours, then drain. This pulls out some aku, the rough bitterness of young fruit. If the ume are already beginning to yellow, skip the soak, because softer fruit takes in water too easily and loses perfume.

3. 3

   Dry and stem

   Spread the ume on clean towels and pat each one dry, then leave them until no bead of water remains. Use a bamboo skewer or toothpick to lift out the little dark stem nubs without gouging the flesh. Water weakens the alcohol at the fruit's surface, and those stem bits bring a woody taste you didn't invite.

   This is the step to be fussy about. Dry fruit, dry jar, clean hands. The waiting is easy if you begin cleanly.
4. 4

   Prepare the jar

   Wash a 4-liter fruit-liquor jar (kajitsushu-bin) and its lid. If the glass is heatproof, rinse it with boiling water, drain, and let it dry completely. If it is not heatproof, don't shock it with boiling water; wash it well, dry it, then wipe the inside with a little of the shōchū. The jar doesn't need ceremony. It needs cleanliness and no hidden droplets.

5. 5

   Layer fruit sugar

   Put a third of the ume into the jar, scatter over a third of the rock sugar, and repeat until both are used, finishing with sugar. Rock sugar dissolves slowly as the fruit gives up juice, which keeps the extraction steady and the flavor clean. Fast sugar makes a hurried syrup at the bottom, and this drink is not improved by impatience.

6. 6

   Add the liquor

   Pour the 35% white liquor down the side of the jar so it covers the fruit. Some ume may float at first. That's fine, as long as everything is wet and sealed under strong alcohol. The strength matters because the fruit and sugar dilute the liquor as they mingle; sake, wine, and most 25% drinking shōchū are too weak for this job.

7. 7

   Store and turn

   Seal the jar, label it with the date, and set it in a cool, dark cupboard. For the first month, tilt the jar gently every few days until the sugar has dissolved. Don't shake it hard. Tilting wets the floating fruit and evens the sweetness, while rough shaking bruises the ume and clouds the liqueur.

8. 8

   Wait and bottle

   Taste after three months if curiosity is making a nuisance of itself, but expect a sharp young drink. At six months the umeshu is ready, clear gold and fragrant; after one year it grows rounder. Lift out the ume with clean tongs and strain the liquid into clean bottles. Serve 60ml over one large ice cube, with one infused ume if you like, or cut it with chilled soda. Stop before the glass looks crowded. Even a drink deserves ma.

Chef Tips

• •Buy green ume in early June if you can. They should feel hard and heavy for their size, with a fresh green scent and no soft spots. Sourcing first, always.
• •The proper bottle in Japan is 35% white liquor, a neutral korui shōchū sold for fruit liqueurs. Outside Japan, 40% unflavored vodka is a sensible stand-in. Don't pretend sake does the same work; it doesn't have the strength.
• •Rock sugar is not decoration. It dissolves slowly, and that slow dissolving is why the ume extract cleanly over months instead of collapsing into a harsh syrup.
• •If you see mold, fizzing, or smell active fermentation, discard the batch. Umeshu should smell clean, fruity, and alcoholic, never sour in the wrong way.
• •Don't snack on raw green ume. They are not table fruit. After months in alcohol and sugar, the infused ume can be eaten in small amounts, but the pits stay hard and are not for biting.

Advance Preparation

• •Buy the jar, sugar, and liquor before ume season begins. The fruit appears quickly in early June, and the prepared cook gets the best pick.
• •If the ume arrive one day before you can make the liqueur, keep them unwashed in the refrigerator on a towel-lined tray. Wash only when you're ready, because moisture shortens their keeping.
• •Umeshu is ready after 6 months, better after 1 year, and keeps well in clean bottles in a cool, dark place. Remove the fruit by 12 months for the cleanest flavor.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 65g)