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.
We have a plum tree and every year we get a cold snap and makes hundreds of them fall when they are small and green. I am always so crushed to lose the fruit and thought there must be something that can be done with them. Then I found your recipe. I made this in 2 jars and waited until now to test (10 months). I was apprehensive since the color didn’t look appetizing and didn’t have a smell. i poured a little from the jar and was amazed!!! It is delicious!!!
Thank you for your post. Waiting on those little green fruits to fall for more this year!!!!
Hi Amy! Wow! You are so lucky to have a nice plum tree! You can enjoy the delicious plum wine every year from now on.😁
Thank you very much for trying this recipe and sharing your story with us!
Hi Nami! I love your recipes and this plum wine recipe. I went to Berkeley Bowl market and Tokyo Fish today but I couldn’t find the Takara Shochu at either stores. Can you tell me where can I buy it? I want to buy the shochu first then buy the ume later in May or June. Thank you!
Hi Emily, Thank you very much for your kind words! We usually purchase at a local Japanese store during the plum season. Maybe contact Takara Sake in Berkeley, CA, to see if it available near your area? https://www.takarasake.com/products/shochu/takara-shochu-jun?id=53 We hope this helps!
If I want to use 2L jars, can I directly split the recommended amount in half and place them in 2 separate jars?
Hi Nicholas, Sure! You can do that to make a smaller batch. Thank you for trying this recipe!🥂
Six months into the waiting period, Some plums are becoming wrinkly. Is this normal?
Hi Jonathan!
Yes! It is a normal and a good sign! It means that extracting the flavors and fragrance from plums.
The day to celebrate is approaching!🥂
Hi, I made your plum wine recipe yesterday. Today I noticed 2 of the plums started to show a bit of brown at where the stem was removed. Is that normal? And some of the rock sugar on the few top layers have already dissolved; the bottom 2 layers of sugar are still visble, not completely dissolved yet. May I ask if I need to shake up the jar to mix the sugar/alcohol mixture every few days? Or just leave it be. Thx so much for your delicious and easy Japanese recipes. I’m a new fan of about 2 years or so but have tried most of your recipes with success. Hope your shoulder is healing well. Thanks so much again, and I look forward to receiving a reply whenever you have free time. Happy summer.
Hi Hope! Thanks for trying this recipe! I think those plums should be okay from the way you describe… but keep an eye on them. If they look suspicious you can remove them with a clean spoon. But assuming that you checked everything beforehand, I think that should be okay. Also the rock sugar being dissolved on top is okay. They slowly dissolve which we want. Shake a few times to coat the plums sometimes. Hope you enjoy the plum wine in a year! 🙂
what is the final alcohol content percentage once the plumb wine ready for consume. using 40% Soju to begin the process
Hi Charles! That’s a good question but I am not sure as the alcohol evaporates…
Hii Nami!!
After completing the 1yr mark for the Umeshu and removing the plums, what is the proper storage method?
Am I able to place out on our counter, or should it be moved to the fridge, or always kept in dark cool area?
Thanks for this recipe, super excited to make it!
Hi Cachae! Keep it in the dark, cool place. 🙂
Hello
I love your recipes. Just one question regarding plum wine.
What type of Jar to use during the fermenting period.
I could not find the jar that you use in your recipe.
The is the one that I used. Air tight mason jar
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Hi Charles! Thank you for your kind words! I use the Japanese plum wine jar as the inside lid has a spout which makes it easier to pour to a glass when I want to drink it. Japanese and Korean grocery stores sell these jars ONLY during this plum season… I looked and looked online hoping that I can link to it but I couldn’t find it. 🙁
Hi Nami, I made this but all my ume floated to the top while the sugar fell to the bottom after a couple days. Do you think this is fine? I had to adjust the amount of ume and shochu but the ratio is the same. Just wondering since it looks like in your photos, the ume stays at the bottom.
Hi J! Thanks for trying this recipe! Yes, that’s okay! Keep it in a cool place for a year (but shake sometimes). 🙂
Hi Nami, mine also floated to the top but after shaking it, a lot of them have parts that aren’t submerged in the alcohol (I added a bit extra alcohol at the start too). I’m worried that the plums will go bad since the ones closer to the top are turning a darker yellow than the ones at the bottom…it’s only been a few days since I made it :/
Hi Blue, Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
First of all, Don’t worry if you already have enough ratio of sugar and alcohol! Plums will be okay, and you do not need to add any extra alcohol. However, please keep it in a cool and dark place and gently shake(move) the jar so that sugar will melt slowly and the liquid in the jar will cover the Plums at the top. If you shake it hard, it damages the skin of the Plum, and the color will be dark sometimes. But it will not change any Umeshu-making process. We hope this helps!
Hi Nami,
This is so exciting! I tried this recipe one year ago using Japanese plums. It’s been 12 months I have not open the jar yet. 🙂
This year I am wondering whether Sour Green Plums from other countries can be used? For example Turkey green plums?
Or would it be a waste of time and alcohol?
Thanks
Jerry
Hi Jerry! I just googled the Turkey green plums. Hmmm similar… I would be tempted to try too. Why don’t you try making a small batch? If it turns out to be so good, it’s shame you don’t give it a shot? 😀 Who knows it can be soooo delicious… 😉 Cheers to your first year of umeshu! Save some and age it!
Yea I will try using Turkey plums this year. I have a good feeling it will turn out at least ok. Will share the difference between Japanese and Turkey plums next time 🙂
Hi Jerry! Please keep me posted. I’m so looking forward to it!
My absolutely most favorite thing to drink. Every time we go out I get umeshu on the rocks or umeshu soda. I’ve never tried it any other way. Glad to see other suggestions, looks like I have some new ways to try it. Was just at San A and saw all of the glass jars. I had to point out to the husband that it’s time for him to make me more umeshu, we’re almost out.
Hi Brandi! I’m glad you like umeshu too! Have fun making it at home!
I wish we could get Shochu in Alaska. I get a bottle once a year from my friend that visits from Japan but I am not sure I want to use it for this because I like it just like it is. What do you suggest?
Hi Nanette! I mentioned in the post, but you can use vodka. Make sure it is at least 35% ABV (alcohol by volume) or 70 proof. 🙂
Hi, did you get the jars in the bay? Can you tell us which store – they’re super cute.
Thanks!
Hi Charles! Japanese and Korean grocery stores. I got mine yesterday from a Kukje in Daly City. 🙂
Hello Nami,
Do you also have a recipe for the plum wine that is salty? I had it in Japan and would love to learn how to make it.
Thanks
Sarah
Hi Sarah! Salty plum wine? No, I have never tried that before. If I see it one day, I’ll try!
Hi Nami,
I am actually interested in growing Japanese plums/apricots myself, but I was wondering if you perhaps know which types of Japanese plum trees are the right ones to make plum wine?
Thank you kindly!
Hi Lauren! I’m not too familiar with the types. In Japan we have several kinds but not sure if they are available here. Maybe contact John (mentioned in the blog post)?