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.
I made it last year (been exactly a year) and it is definitely a strong umeshu (the alcohol I used) but my time are still hard and crunchy! Any tips or insights into why?
Hi Ashley, Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
It depends on the Ume that you use, temperature, and due to the osmotic pressure, the Ume texture will be different. But just because it was not wrinkled does not mean that the extract did not come out. You can use the used plum to make plum jam. https://www.justonecookbook.com/plum-jam/
We hope this helps!
Hi Nami
i love your recipes ! and i am making Umeshu this year. This is my 1st time and I over estimated the glass jar I got and its now filled to the brim. can i just transfer some o& the ume and sochu into another smaller jar 3 days later (need to find another jar hence the delay)? i just worry that it will disrupt the process of making the Umeshu. Thank you.
Hi Jo, Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
Is your jar filled to the brim with Shochu? You can leave it as is if the lid can be closed. The rock sugar will dissolve, and the volume will go down in the next few days. If you need to transfer to another jar, the best way is to move to a bigger jar so that the sugar, alcohol, and Ume ratio will stay the same. The right amount of sugar is necessary to make good Umeshu.
Please use clean utensils to pick up/move Ume and sugar if you take some from the jar.
We hope this helps!
Soooo good. I did it last July 2021 and now we are enjoying the fruit of our labor.
Making more batches this time.
Hi Sue! We are so happy to hear you enjoyed homemade Umeshu!🥂
Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback!
Hello!
Thank you so much for this (and all other) recipe, it looks fabulous! I was wondering, is there any risk of the jar shattering because of built up pressure? Is there a need to decompress and loosen the lid during the process or can you just leave the jar closed shut the whole year? The jars I have are 3L glass jars with a metal screw on lid.
All the best!
Hi Gabriella, Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post and for your kind feedback!
Each year after adding everything in the jar, we do not open our jar for at least 1 year. And we don’t see any problem.🙂
We hope this helps!
Would you be able to continue fermenting this to turn it into vinegar? I would love to make my own ume vinegar!
Hi Jacquelyn, This plum wine would not be vinegar even if you leave it for years.
To make the vinegar, you can try the Umeboshi recipe. You will be able to make ume plum vinegar (梅酢, umezu) during the process.
https://www.justonecookbook.com/how-to-make-umeboshi/
We hope this helps!
Hi Nami,
I’ve decided to give the recipe a go 2 weeks ago. All the sugars dissolved and the ume began to shrivel up. I’m excited to try it in 6 months but I have a question. I’ve noticed that it’s begun getting cloudy. Not to the point it’s opaque but definitely less clear than it was day 1. Is this unusual? Many thanks.
Hi Andrew! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
If you used vodka, Japanese “white liquor” or any distilled spirit/liquor above 35% ABV “alcohol by volume, and follow the recipe, it’s ok to drink.
You probably had a ripe Ume or little damaged Ume that skin was fragile and got cloudy with Pectin.
We hope this helps!
For those living in the SF- Bay Area, I just saw that fresh organic ume is available on Weee online Asian grocery delivery. I’m sure it’s seasonal and for reference it’s May 13, 2021. The package says packed by H&R Citrus, Orange Cove, CA – 2 lb for $12. From the reviews, looks like others had purchased it from early May.
Hi Karen, Thank you for your input!
Why do you not use ripe fruit?
Hi Wes, You may use ripe fruit, but the Japanese method uses young green Ume plums.
There are several reasons for it: Fruit is not easily damaged and fermented and has a better refreshing aroma and acidity taste for the wine.
We hope this helps!
Hi Nami, I’m in SF, may I know which retailers / online stores carry Takaru Shochu? Thanks in advance!
Hi Fiona! Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post!
She usually purchases/finds at Nijiya or Marina (Asian store). We hope this helps!
hello! my mum has been fermenting for a few years now, and have only opened up to check recently. However, the wine has turned a dark brown liquid! Could this be a possible spoilage? It smells medicinal.
Hi, Reina! Umeshu’s fragrance is the best for about 2~3 years.
The smells could occur due to a more extended period of fermentation.
It’s hard to tell without sampling it, but if she used distilled spirit/liquor above 35% ABV “alcohol by volume and keep the bottle in a cool and dark place, the Umeshu should be good.
We hope this helps!
I believe it smells medicinally because you oversteeped it and the pit of the fruit got extracted. Try the resulting liquid, it should be safe if it is not overly bitter — plums have some cyanogenic compounds in their pits that can become poisonous if consumed too much, but their presence is given up by the bitter taste. Overall, the steeping the ume longer than one year indeed gives this medicinal smell and a tannic, astringent taste.
Hi Nami! I tried making the umeshu last year with your recipe, I just drank it today, it tastes really good! Thanks for sharing the recipe with us. This year, I would like to try making it with honey instead of sugar.. not sure if you could share the method and amount of honey I should use? Thanks!
Hi Apple, Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe. Nami and JOC team are so happy to hear your Umesh came out great, and you enjoyed it! Yay!
We wish we have a recipe that can share using honey, but we haven’t tested it before and don’t know the perfect amount yet.
We hope we can share it with everyone soon.
I can only find yellow ume in my area (I think they are ripe, vs the unripen green ones). Is it ok to make umeshu with ripe yellow ume? Thank you 🙂 Love your blog!
Hi Ritsuko, You can make Umeshu with ripe yellow ume too. The flavor would be different, but it would work!
Thank you for reading Nami’s blog!
Hi Namiko, do you have a recipe for amaume? (https://www.sweetiebearasiansnackcentre.com/product-page/akagi-food-japanese-dried-ama-ume-plum-120g). It looks like it’s using green ume and it’s crunchy. Thank you!
Hi Anna! Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post!
We currently don’t have the recipe on the site, but we found one written in Japanese on the Japanese site. https://cookpad.com/recipe/267346
We hope google translate comes in handy… 🙂
I now use this recipe to make eight gallons of umeshu every year. It is a great recipe and I have always had good results.
Hi Beth! Wonderful! We are so happy to hear you enjoy homemade Plum Wine!
Thank you very much for trying this recipe and for your kind feedback.🥂
Hi Nami , I made the Ume wine about 10 moths ago . Unfortunately some plums weren’t perfect . Some had ripened a little with some spots but still used them . Wine in the right color but a little cloudy . Do you think its safe to drink still . Love your site Regards Mitch
Hi Mitchell, Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
Please open the lid and check the aroma first. If it smells strange or tastes like vinegar, unfortunately, it didn’t turn out well. But the most case, the cloudy looks is not a bad sign!🙂 We hope this helps!
Hi Mitchell, how did it turn out? Mine has started becoming cloudy as well.