When it‘s ume season, make my fruity and aromatic Ume Plum Syrup recipe with unripe green plums and rock sugar. You can mix it into icy cold water for delicious “ume juice“ or drizzle it over shaved ice. The tart and sweet taste is nostalgic of my childhood in Japan!
Before I was old enough to drink Japanese Plum Wine (Umeshu), I enjoyed the kid-friendly ‘Ume Juice’ (梅ジュース) made of Ume Syrup (梅シロップ) and carbonated water. It is so delicious, and even until now, I feel nostalgic about its tart and sweet taste.
Ever since I found that I can purchase ume plums here in the US (read below), I’ve been making Umeshu for adults and Ume Syrup for my children and my own enjoyment. Now that the warm weather is here, I’m so excited to share the syrup recipe on the blog!
Why You’ll Love This:
- Fruity, sweet, tart, and delightful aroma.
- Absolutely delicious! I overuse this word, but it’s really that good.
- When mixed with icy cold water, you get the most thirst-quenching and crave-worthy summer drink
- Bright and refreshing flavoring in a variety of summer drinks, desserts, and more.
- Make a special edible gift because of the short season and limited access of ume.
Two Ingredients You’ll Need
This recipe is super easy to make. You’ll need only two ingredients:
- Ume plums (green, unripe ones)
- White rock sugar
You will also need a large glass container to store plums and sugar. The Japanese and Korean grocery stores sell these giant 4-liter jars during the ume plum seasons. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen them sold online but I’ll update you if I find any.
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 ume 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 use the extract of the fruits by fermenting them with lots of sugar or salt.
You can get green ume plums ($10 per pound) from Nicholas Family Farms. Please text or call Penny at 559-393-3009. Make sure to mention JOC22 for 10% off!
How to Make Ume Plum Syrup
It’s really easy and simple, but I have to warn you that it takes 10 to 14 days to finish making the syrup. Mostly inactive time, except for the first and last day.
It involves 3 steps:
- Wash ume plums and remove stem ends from the plums.
- Put the plums and sugar in the jar and simply wait for 10-14 days.
- Cook the syrup to kill any germs and store in a sterilized jar.
Easy, right? Now take a look at how the ume plums transform from Day 1 to Day 14.
How to Use Ume Plum Syrup
Besides the most refreshing drink, you can do a lot with ume plum syrup.
Here’s what I suggest:
- Ume Juice or Ume Cider – You can dilute the syrup with icy cold water or carbonated water.
- Ume Shaved Ice – Drizzle the syrup over the shaved ice and enjoy it with Ume Compote.
- Baked Goods
- Jelly or Kanten desserts
- Salad Dressing
You can use it just like what you would with lemon simple syrup. Stir it over greek yogurt, lavish over vanilla ice cream, or incorporate into tea.
For those who are into cocktails or mocktails, I think a touch of the plum syrup can do wonder in the drinks. I like the sound of ume flavored Japanese gin or maybe ume-spiked sake!
Itadakimasu!
Ume plum season in California is from mid-May to early June. If you’re lucky enough to score a batch, making the ume plum syrup is a classic and joyful Japanese rite to celebrate the season. Once you try it, you will want to make it your annual activity. It’s the Japanese version of lemonade syrup. I hope you enjoy!
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Ume Plum Syrup
Ingredients
- 2.2 lbs green ume plums
- 2.2 lbs white rock sugar (rock sugar is essential to slowly extract the ume essence; do not use granulated sugar)
- 2–3 Tbsp shochu (or other distilled alcohol to sterilize the glass fermentation jar; use more as needed)
Instructions
Day 1: Layer the Ume and Rock Sugar
- Gather all the ingredients. You will also need a 3–4 L glass jar, which you can buy at a Japanese or Korean grocery store.
- Rinse the jar thoroughly with soap and hot water and wipe dry with a clean towel. While the jar is still hot, pour in boiling water and shake to clean and drain. Air dry completely, making sure there‘s no moisture. Dampen a clean towel with liquor (I use shochu) and wipe the inside of the jar.
- Wash and dry 2.2 lbs green ume plums thoroughly.
- Remove the stem ends from the plums with a bamboo skewer or toothpick. Discard any plums with brown or blemished spots.
- In the clean jar, put some of the plums in a single layer. Then, cover the plums with a layer of some of the 2.2 lbs white rock sugar.
- Add another single layer of plums again, followed by another layer of rock sugar. Repeat this process until you’re done layering the plums and rock sugar. The last layer of plums should be completely covered with rock sugar.
- Seal, write the date on the jar and store in a cool, dark place (not the refrigerator).
Day 2 to Day 14: Ferment
- At least twice a day, gently shake and tilt the jar and make sure the plums are coated with syrup. The goal is to extract the plum flavor as soon as possible. If exposed and not coated with sugar/syrup, the plums may grow mold (and ruin the syrup). Once the essence is extracted, the ume will look wrinkled. Tip: If you see white mold growth on a plum, discard it immediately. If you see white foam and smell fermentation, you have to stop this process and move onto the next step (cooking the syrup).
Day 15: Cook the Syrup
- Sterilize the jars and tools you will use to store the syrup. Wash the jars, lids, and bands in hot, soapy water. Put the jars on a rack in a pot of water. Boil at least 10 minutes and keep in simmering water until ready to fill. Carefully remove a jar from the water with a jar lifter or tongs, empty out the water and place the jar on a clean kitchen towel. Put the lids and bands in a small saucepan of simmering water (do not boil) until ready to use.
- Take out the plums and weigh them (mine weighed 455 g) if you plan to use them for other recipes. I recommend making Ume Plum Compote.
- Pour the syrup into a large pot. Simmer for 15 minutes on low heat, skimming the foam that comes up to the surface with a fine-mesh skimmer.
- Fill the jar with the hot syrup, leaving ½ inch of headspace. Repeat to fill the remaining jars. Remove the lids and bands from the simmering water with tongs and place them on top of the jars.
- Close the lid tightly and turn the jar upside down to seal. Let cool. Check the seal: The lids should not pop in the center (if they do, you can only keep the syrup in the fridge for up to 2 weeks).
To Serve and Store
- To enjoy the syrup, dilute it with iced water or carbonated water. Store unopened vacuum-sealed jar in a cool, dark place for 6 months (possibly 12 months, but I never made enough to try keeping for 12 months). Refrigerate after opening and use it in 2 weeks.
O my photo is uploaded. Hopefully my sharing is useful for first timers like me 🙂
Thank you Nami for introducing and sharing Japanese cooking with many of us. I have always been wanting to learn how to make the various food I had encountered and tried during my trips to Japan. Stumbled on JOC and I must say it is the better ones if not the best compared to many out there and JOC is probably the first to provide comprehensive step-by-step account of Japanese cooking. Your explanations and tips and the background, history you would share and introduce make me appreciate more of each dish. Your Japanese recipes are the first I have taken initiative to try.
I’ve been waiting months to make my first ume syrup and umeboshi. Finally ordered lovely big green plums early May. Received my batch early June. Paid a lot for the plums. Unfortunately, just yesterday I discovered mould and I can smell whiff of fermentation in progress. I took extra caution spraying my hands, container, the air, utensils with gin. I didnt turn the jar to coat the plums as often – probably thrice. Is this the reason why. The plums are floating but not submerged. How do I keep the plum submerged. Should I start with a layer of rock sugar followed by a layer of plums. I have only one small jar of a few plums left and another smaller jar of 2 plums. Hopefully no mould or the whole purchase go to waste and I have to wait for next season. 🙁
P.S. I’m unable to attach photos. Please advise.
Hi Jaime, Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and sharing your experience.
Do you see only the white stuff? If so, carefully remove the plum and all the white parts from the jar and discard them as soon as possible. If the syrup doesn’t smell mold and smells sweet plum, you can take out the syrup and simmer them.
This white mold often happens if plums were not dried well at the beginning or did not shake and tilted the jar daily.
Some plum might not be submerged, but if it is coated with syrup often, then it is okay. At least twice a day, tilt the jar and ensure the plums are coated with the syrup.
To speed up the process of dissolving the sugar and avoid fermentation, you may add 2 Tbs vinegar (2 Tbsp vinegar/1kg of Ume) next time.
We hope this helps.🙂
I saw this in the morning and then in the afternoon I saw the plums and rock sugar at the Japanese supermarket. The syrup was worth the wait! I made the mistake of tasting it alone and wow…I’m trying to figure out a good ratio of water/fizzy water to syrup, but it is delicious!
Hi Amber! We are glad to hear you enjoyed Ume Plum Syrup!
Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
Hi! I’m in Okinawa and this is the first year that I’m going to make the ume syrup! During the 14 days, are we supposed to open the jar to release any pressure or does it stay closed the entire 14 days? Thank you!
Hi Shari, Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
You do not need to open the jar during the process. But make sure to gently shake and tilt the jar to coat the plum with the syrup.
We hope this helps!
Hi Nami, thank you for the recipe. I really enjoy the Ume drink, so refreshing.
Hi Indra! Nami and JOC team are so happy to hear you enjoyed the homemade Ume drink!
Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!🥂
I am making another batch 😋.
I freeze the fresh ume, so I can drink the syrup during summer time 🥂
Hi Indra! Awesome! Thank you for trying Nami’s recipe and sharing your Ume Plum Syrup picture!🥂
Hi! It’s been two and half weeks since I started my ume syrup but some of the rock sugar still have not dissolved (the temperature for my place is lower than the usual room temperature). Should I keep letting it sit there? Should I boil the syrup and melt some of the solid rock sugar? Or should I just boil the syrup with whatever liquid I have? Thank you Namiko!
Hi Inigo! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
How much syrup do you see in the jar? If there is enough syrup and the Ume is wrinkled, you can start to simmer them.
If there is no foam or white stuff inside the jar and it needs more syrup to extract, you can keep gently shaking and tilt it to help dissolve the sugar for a few more days.
We hope this helps!
That was very helpful thank you!!
Sorry for the long explanation here…
My local japanese grocery store was only able to sell me a 1lb bag of the ume and I only had approx 1lb of the rock sugar, so used the 1.5qt Bormioli Rocco hermetic jars and started the process, then went on a long weekend trip. Upon returning on Day 4, about half of the sugar dissolved and sugar rocks went to the bottom, which left some of the plums at the top uncovered for the 3 days I was gone. Couple of the plums looked a bit fuzzy but I think it might be the ume skins? I gave the mixture a swirl but it was still impossible to cover with the syrup so I set the jar upside down and flipped the jar every now and then so all the plums could be coated with syrup. It is only Day 6 and I am waiting patiently. I have a couple of questions:
Hi Sharon! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
1) Some plums get wrinkly quickly and change color to brown or not change at all. However, it’s normal, and yes! Please keep gently tilting and swirling the sugar each day.
2) Yes, you can experiment with different sugars, yellow rock sugar, honey, etc., to find your best flavor!
Enjoy!
Hello! Thanks so much for posting this recipe and for the comment support. I know this was a year ago, but if possible, I was wondering what to do about my current batch. The plums are now a dark golden to dark brown color. I used green plums at the start, but it seems like they browned fairly fast (started May 10th, now at May 19th) and the sugar is still quite big.
Is it okay to open the lid once in a while? I did forget to put the plastic seal on with the pouring spout, but the top lid is still on it.
It smells just a little sour, like maybe it’s been fermented but there is no foam. Is this because the inner lid wasn’t on? Should I go ahead and simmer now or is it okay to wait for more of the sugar to dissolve?
Thanks either way!
Hi Blair! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
The green plums sometimes get brown during the process, but it’s okay. You can open the lid to place the plastic seal now.
You can keep gently shaking and tilting the jar and make sure the plums are coated with the syrup if there is no foam. And continue to let it process until the sugar dissolves.
If you notice the foam, you can take it out and simmer.
We hope this helps!
Thanks for the amazing recipe and tips. I making the ume syrup and it’s now on the 3rd day. Once done, can I use the leftover ume to make ume jam instead of compote?
Hi Pam! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback!
Yes! You can make Ume jam using used Ume. Here is Nami’s Ume jam recipe you can try!: https://www.justonecookbook.com/plum-jam/
We hope you enjoy them!
Hi, I made an order to the friend (John) who can source Ume however, I was confused as I didn’t find any payment information available and the instructions says you must pay upfront in order to reserve your spot. I know it’s still early but I want to secure my spot in line 🙂 I tried emailing but if someone knows their venmo that would help a lot! Also if someone has experience with ordering from John, that would also be great to know.
Hi Stephanie! I get my ume from John every year. This year 2021 was not the best year, but I’m hoping 2022 would be better. You can leave your email in the google form, and he will email his plan before ume season starts. That’s the time we have to order (and pay), not now. This is not his full-time job and he just wants to help out other JOC friends. Let’s hope 2022 is a good year!
I’ve seen a very similar recipe, but for Korean Maesil Cheong. However in that recipe they plums remain in the syrup for approximately 3 months. Why is the time so much shorter here?
Hi Ashley! Thank you very much for reading Nami’s post!
It depends on the area you live in, the sugar might take longer to dissove and take longer than 14 days.
We hope this helps!
Hello! I left my ume in the sugar solution for an extra week because the sugar rocks were still quite large after 2 weeks. There was no mold or foam whenever I shook the jar, but when I opened it after week 3, it did smell fermented I think and white foam started to bubble up as I was taking the plums out! The taste was good, so I went ahead and made the syrup (and compote!) anyway, but I wonder if you know how alcoholic something like this might be…? I’ve never worked with ume before, so I’m not sure what any of this should smell or taste like. Thank you for any guidance!
Hi Lindsay, Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
We are glad to hear your Ume Plum Syrup turned out within good taste. As you notice, it sounds like your syrup got fermented a little, but it’s sometimes happened, and it’s ok to drink. As for the alcohol level, we are sorry that not sure how much is yours. Simmering the syrup reduces the alcohol level, and we believe it would not be too much.
If you would like to avoid over fermentation next time, you can simmer the syrup include the unmelted sugar, after extracting the flavor from the plum. We hope this helps!
Hi Namiko, thanks for answering my questions last time. After a month, the big jar’s sugars are almost melted and I poured the syrup out and boiled it.
However, there were a lot of bubbles when I was pouring the syrup out (the bubbles disappeared after a couple of minutes). Is this normal?
The first small jar I made didn’t have such problem and there were no bubbles at all.
I’m a little bit concern about the big jar that had so many bubbles. Is it safe to drink? Thanks
Hi Yan! Thank you very much for trying Namiko’s recipe!
The bubbles that you saw are from fermentation, and it’s ok to drink.
The simmering process would stop the fermentation.
This happens when;
1. It took a long time to dissolve the sugar
2. Room temperature was higher
3. The plums were ripe at the beginning of the process.
Some people prefer the bubbly ones too.
We hope this helps! 🥂
This turned out amazing! 100% would recommend. Definitely use the vinegar, though! It wouldn’t dissolve completely until we added it 🙂
Hi Missy! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe and for your kind feedback!
We are so happy to hear it turned out amazing, and you enjoyed it!🥂
Hello Nami
Is it possible to use plastic containers instead of glass ones? I’m going to try to make it this weekend and realised that i do not have any glass containers that are that big ..
Thanks a lot for sharing!
Hi Ginny! Thank you very much for trying Nami’s recipe!
If you use a good-quality plastic container, it may work. But we recommend a glass jar to sterilize the jars.
You can use a smaller jar with the same ratio if you do not have a big jar.
We hope this helps!