It’s easy to make my recipe for Plum Wine or Umeshu (梅酒) at home with fresh Japanese plums (ume) steeped in shochu/white liquor and sugar. The liqueur is delicious in mixed drinks thanks to its appealing fruity aroma and sweet and tart flavor. Inspired by the Japanese drama Midnight Diner.
It’s the Japanese plum (ume) season! I remember my grandma made plum wine or umeshu (梅酒) and stored it in the cool dark underground storage of her kitchen until they’re ready to be enjoyed. There were several big jars of umeshu from different years.
This sweet alcoholic drink was featured on the popular Japanese TV program called “Shinya Shokudo (深夜食堂)” or “Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories” which is available on Netflix.
Midnight Diner features dishes that are more representative of Japanese home-cooked recipes that you might not have seen in your local Japanese restaurants. “Sour Plum & Plum Wine” episode is Season 1, Episode 6 on Netflix.
Table of contents
What is Umeshu (Plum Wine)?
From mid-May to early June, it’s ume (Japanese plum) season here in California. During this short period of time when fresh ume is available, the Japanese make plum wine, or what we call Umeshu (梅酒) with still unripe and green plums.
I’m not much of a drinker, but I do enjoy drinking homemade umeshu from time to time. Have you tried it before? If you visited Japan and stayed at a ryokan (Japanese-style inn), you might have tried this drink before your kaiseki meal (懐石料理) as an aperitif, or Shokuzen-shu (食前酒).
It’s SUPER easy to make this homemade fruit wine, in less than 15 minutes! Okay, I also should mention that you have to wait for at least 6 months (1 year is recommended) before you enjoy your homemade plum wine… but it’s SO worth it. Plus you get to share homemade umeshu with your guests when they come over. Let’s make it with me this year (share your photo with #justonecookbook on Instagram) so we can celebrate and enjoy ourselves together at this time next year! You and me!
3 Ingredients to Make Umeshu at Home
It’s just 3 simple ingredients to make umeshu at home. You can get all these ingredients at Japanese grocery stores. If they carry green plums, they also know that you’ll need the special rock sugar, liquor, and a glass jar.
1. Green Ume Plums
You have to use these tart and sour green plums to make the plum wine and not any other types of plums you see in the store. Both Japanese and Korean grocery stores sell these plums during this season, so keep an eye on these plums around early to mid-May.
These raw green plums are not edible as they are too tart and bitter (also if you eat too many of them, it is said you’ll likely have a stomachache). We only take the extract of the fruits by fermenting them with lots of sugar or salt.
Where to Get Ume Plums
You have to use tart, sour, and firm green ume plums to make the syrup and not any other types of plums you see in the store. Both Japanese and Korean grocery stores sell these plums around early to mid-May.
You can also find them at specialty fruit producers online.
- Nicholas Family Farms (Text or call Penny at 559-393-3009)
- Good Eggs (SF Bay Area)
- GreatPlentifulShopCA (They also sell semi-ripe ones)
Substitute Ume
- Turkish sour plums – A reader in Europe got them from a Turkish market and used them in this recipe. He said his umeshu tasted as good as the one he had in Japan!
2. White Rock Sugar/Candy
Instead of regular white sugar, we use white rock sugar/candy to make plum wine. Rock sugar takes time to dissolve, which helps to extract the flavors and fragrance from the plums at a slower pace. You can buy it on Amazon if your local Japanese/Asian grocery stores don’t carry it. You could also use white granulated sugar but remember that it’ll not taste as good. I would encourage you to find rock sugar as you invest your time (once a year) to make this drink.
3. Distilled Spirits/Liquor
To make plum wine, we need neutral, colorless, near-flavorless distilled spirits/liquor such as shochu (焼酎) and vodka. Make sure it is at least 35% ABV (alcohol by volume) or 70 proof. The plum wine could become spoiled when alcohol percentage go down being diluted by the fruit juice from the plum.
In Japan, we have a liquor called “White Liquor” (ホワイトリカー), which we use for making plum wine or fruit wine. If you can’t find it, don’t sweat it and use shochu or vodka.
Shochu is a Japanese distilled beverage with less than 45% by alcohol by volume. It’s typically distilled from rice, barley, sweet potatoes, buckwheat, or brown sugar.
How About Glass Jar?
You can get this on Amazon or Japanese grocery stores during the green plum season.
How To Enjoy Umeshu
After a year, you can finally get to enjoy your plum wine. The flavor and fragrance of the plum wine ripen as it ages, so make sure to store in a cool, dark place for years to come! You might want to start making two batches if you can’t stop drinking it. 😉
Umeshu can be served at different temperatures; chilled or with ice, room temperature, or even hot in the winter.
- Umeshu On the Rocks (梅酒ロック): Put a big ice cube in a glass and pour the plum wine.
- Umeshu Sour (梅酒サワー): Mix the plum wine with ume-flavor shochu and soda water.
- Umeshu Tonic (梅酒トニック) Mix 30 ml plum wine with 90 ml tonic water.
- Umeshu Soda (梅酒ソーダ割り): Mix one part plum wine with one part carbonated water.
- Umeshu Oyuwari (梅酒お湯割り): Mix one part plum wine with one part warm water.
- Umeshu Ochawari (梅酒お茶割り): Mixed one part plum wine with one part hot/cold black or green tea.
Non-Alcoholic Ume Syrup
You can enjoy making ume drinks without alcohol. My kids and I love making Ume Cider (梅サイダー) in the summer months. Make this Ume Plum Syrup and store it in the pantry to enjoy later.
One Year Umeshu Diary
What To Do with the Spent Plums in the Umeshu?
After 12 months of making delicious plum wine, the plums are ready to retire. Your plums did a tremendous job making your delicious plum wine for a year. Now that their job is done, it doesn’t mean it’s time to toss them away. This amazing stone fruit is the fruit that never stops giving.
You can totally eat the ume plums from the wine! Serve them with your plum wine so you can nibble them while you drink, but if you’re looking into other ways to utilize those used plums, here are some ideas on how to consume them.
- Make jams for your breakfast toasts, yogurt, gelatin dessert
- Bake a cake with plums (just like other fruit cakes)
- Make cocktails with crushed plums
- Use in savory dishes
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Plum Wine (Umeshu)
Video
Ingredients
- 2.2 lb green ume plums
- 1.8 lb white rock sugar
- 7½ cups shochu (3 750-ml bottles with 450 ml leftover; or substitute vodka, Japanese “white liquor,” or any distilled spirit/liquor above 35% ABV “alcohol by volume“)
For Version B with 2 Shochu Bottles—750 ml x 2 and a 3-L glass jar (optional)
- 1.8 lb green ume plums
- 1.5 lb white rock sugar
- 6.3 cups shochu (2 bottles with no leftover)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients. You will need a 4-L glass jar (you can buy one in a Japanese or Korean grocery store).
- Rinse the jar thoroughly with soap and hot water and wipe dry with a clean towel. Dampen the clean towel with shochu (or your choice of liquor) and wipe inside the jar.
- Wash and dry 2.2 lb green ume plums thoroughly. (Use 1.8 lb green ume plums for version B.)
- Remove all the stem from the plums with a bamboo skewer or toothpick. Discard any plums with brown or blemished spots.
- Measure 1.8 lb white rock sugar (or 1.5 lb white rock sugar for version B). I recommend a sugar amount of between half the weight of the plums (1.1 lb, 500 g) to equal the weight (2.2 lb, 1 kg). You just have to try it out to learn your preference (which you will find out after a year). For one batch, I like to use 800 g. The best part is that it’s easy to remember, too—1 kg plums, 800 g sugar, and 1.8 L liquor per batch.
- In the clean jar, put the plums in a single layer. Then, cover the plums with a layer of rock sugar.
- Then, add more plums in a single layer again, followed by the rock sugar. Repeat this process until you’re done with the plums and sugar.
- Pour 7½ cups shochu or your choice of liquor (or 6.3 cups shochu for version B). This bottle of shochu is 750 ml, so you’ll need 2 bottles plus an additional 300 ml. If you have leftover shochu, you can make a yuzu cocktail.
- After pouring the shochu, it looks like this.
- Seal, write today‘s date on the jar, and store in a cool, dark place (not in the refrigerator) for 365 days. See you in a year! You can start drinking from 6 months, but I recommend to wait for a whole year.
1 Year Later…
- Remove the plums from the jar and use them for other recipes. You can leave them in the jar for 2–3 years as long as you used green plums (firm and not ripened) and 35% alcohol. (The liquid in the jar is a bit less in the photo because I had to pour some out for filming the video.)
To Use the Spent Plums
- You can make Plum Jam by cooking the plum and sugar. Spread it on toast, add in yogurt, make a gelatin dessert. Or you can bake a cake with the spent plums, make cocktails with crushed plums, or use them in savory dishes.
Nutrition
Editor’s Note: The post was originally published on May 25, 2017. The video and new images are added to the post in May 2018.
Can i freeze the fresh ume plums and use it to make ume wine one week later as i am travelling oversea.
Hi Stephanie! I don’t know if stone fruits can be frozen at home freezer (not a commercial grade)… but I wouldn’t freeze them as the texture of the flesh may change. Possible to refrigerate them? That would be my choice… 🙂
[…] glass of alcohol served with the Sakizuke, usually Sake (日本酒) or Umeshu (梅酒; plum wine). Some restaurants may offer non-traditional drinks such as sparkling wine or […]
Hi Nami,
I have recently arrived in Japan, and have been introduced to Umeshu by a neighbour who this morning was picking his green plumbs.. (I speak no Japanese and he speaks no other language) so all is a great adventure.
I normally live in Spain and have two plumb trees in the garden, missing them this years crop as I will be in Koajiro until september. However thinking ahead, I wonder if my plumbs would be good for making Umeshu or should it realy be better with Japanese plumbs. I have no asian, let alone Japanese store within 1000 miles of home, but do have Plumbs (More than I can eat or make jam with) , Glass jars and rock sugar.. Love to hear from you and will let you know, if all is well when we start drinking in 2021
All the best,
Chuck.
Hi Chuck! We use green (sour and hard) plums to make Umeshu. We don’t use sweet ones. How are your plums? Maybe try making a small batch so you won’t waste?
Hi Nami, I just realize the jar I bought at Marukai was only a 3L and they don’t have any more. Do you know where in the Bay Area I can find more of these jars with the inner lid? I have another glass jar that is 4.2L with a clamp lid (4” opening only) which is not so convenient. Worse case, I can just use that one but I prefer having the inner lid. Thanks for your help.
Hi Karen! Sorry I couldn’t respond sooner. I’m glad you found a jar at H Mart!
Found ume at Japanese markets in the SF Bay Area (May to June). Bought all my supplies at Marukai in Cupertino today. Not cheap though, 2 lb ume + sugar + wine + jar = US$65. Looking forward to the results in a year :D. Just one question, can I use the ume if there is some blemish on the skin or if the skin has rubbed off a bit? I saw some bags of ume broken with a bit of juice exuding already. Thanks for your wonderful recipes and website!
Hi Karen! Great! Hopefully, the second year it will be slightly cheaper as you already have the jar (or you may end up getting another jar!). As long as the scars are not big, you can use blemished ume. If there are big scars don’t use it. The bacteria may grow form there. Green plums are sour so it’s usually used to make umeshu (plum wine) or kanroni (ume in syrup). I don’t have the recipe but here is an example: https://minabe.net/umelife/kanroni/recipe.html
For those still looking for ingredients, I found ume and the double lid glass container at H Mart today. Prices a little cheaper than the Japanese markets; so try the Korean markets too. Yay. I can finally start my first batch of umeshu 👏
Hi Karen! Thank you so much for sharing your info with us!!!
[…] those of you who have followed my recipe on how to make plum wine (umeshu) last year, congratulations. Your patience is finally paying off and the plum wine is now ready to […]
[…] SIDENOTE: These Japanese plums make a tasty liqueur – Plum Wine or as they call it, ‘Umeshu’. It’s very sweet, smooth and has a low alcohol percentage. It is my drink of choice here in Japan. You can buy it in the store or as many do, make it from scratch at home and age it in dark, cool storage space. Learn more here. […]
It’s been one year now that I made the Umeshu. The recipe was easy. The hard part was the wait but it is so worth it! At one year, the color of the plum wine is richer in color and the taste is wonderful. The only mistake I made was to not take your advice and make a double batch! That surely won’t happen again this year!
Hi Annie! Hahahaha! Well, the tough first year is over. Now that you have plum wine, you can enjoy it SLOOOOOOWLY to make it next year. And make a double batch this year. You’re all set. 😀 Thank you so much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback. xoxo
What causes ume to turn brown? I recently bought some from my local Nijiya and sorted out the ones that were green and pristine to the ones that were blemished. After removing the stems and soaking in water overnight (I was making umeboshi), the entire batch turned brown and discolored!
I still pickled them as only the color changed with no holes… but I’m not too confident about what I’ll find in the coming days 🙁
Do you have any insights?
Hi Stephanie! I looked up in Japanese and there are some articles say:
1) if you wash roughly ume might have some scars and water goes in there and change color to brownish/redish color.
2) when you use ripe ume (yellowish) and soak in water, the color change to brownish (if ume is ripe, no need to soak in water)
If you pickle brown ume, the skin may break and it may become rotten, so it’s recommended to dry those brown ume outside under sun. This will help. If there is no mold growth, you can use the brownish ume.
Hope this helps!
Nami, I just tucked away 12 Liters of umeshu into my hall closet. I can’t wait to check back in and tell you how yummy it is next year!!! I used cane rock sugar to add some depth instead of white rock sugar.
Thank you so much for this recipe. Making my own umeshu has been a goal of mine since coming back from Japan last spring. Now all I need is a good umeboshi recipe 😉
Hi Emily! YAY!!!! How exciting! The second year will be much easier as you get to enjoy the first year batch. 😉 Hang in there! I want to make umeboshi too… but I think I’m supposed to do one thing mid-way, and it’s around the summer time and I won’t be at home… I need to check again. That’s the whole reason I haven’t been able to make it. If it’s one-time preparation like umeshu, I can do it. 🙂
What do you do with the plums after a year? Can you eat them or do you remove and throw away? Can you keep them in for longer? So excited to give this a go!
Some people/recipes recommend to take it out, while some people leave it for 2-3 years… For my first-year umeshu, I am still keeping the ume (I’m going to check 2-3 years), but I’ll take out ume from this past year’s umeshu. With the ume, you can serve umeshu with it (whole or crush), make jams, make desserts, or use it in cooking. Don’t throw away. 🙂
[…] Plum Wine (Umeshu) […]
[…] (If you are interested by “Umeshu”, I recommend you this recipe, very similar from my friend’s : Umeshu Recipe – JustOneCookBook). […]
Hi!
I am going to try to make umeshu but still have some questions…
I apologized if they were already answered… and for my poor english…
The plums you put in the jar aren’t ripe, right?
Can I put less sugar?
I’ll store it in a dark place but it can get pretty warm at summer. How will it affect the process?
Thank you in advance.
Love all your recipes 🙂
Hi LY! Please do not worry about English as my English is not perfect. 🙂
1) Those green plums are not ripe. Still early, so they are sour.
2) Sugar is important for preserving fruits. If you put less sugar, it may spoil. However, you can reduce a little bit.
3) Yes, Japan’s summer is humid and hot, too, so as long as trying to keep it in the coolest place of the house, that’s okay! 🙂
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