We are making Ume Syrup and Umeshu also known as plum wine using ume fruits harvested in our garden. It might be difficult to find good green ume, which are often called plums but homemade umeshu has a delectable taste so you should definitely try it when ume are in season.
Please leave a 5 star rating if you like the recipe! 🙂
| Cook Time | 15 minutes |
| Time for sterilizing jars and soaking ume in water is not included in cook time. Extracting ume juice in ume syrup and maturing umeshu are not included in cook time. |
| Servings |
glass jars (2000ml/8.45 cups for umeshu, 1500ml/6.34 cups for ume syrup)
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| Translator | Get Francis Mug |
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Please leave a 5 star rating if you like the recipe! 🙂
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Ingredients
Ume Syrup
500 g Green Ume Fruits also known as green plums 500 g White Rock Sugar 50 ml Vinegar
Umeshu
500 g Green Ume Fruits also known as green plums 250 g White Rock Sugar 900 ml Shochu (35% alcohol) Japanese distilled liquor, also known as "white liquor" in Japan
Other Ingredients
Shochu (35% alcohol) for sterilizing containers
Kitchen Tool
2 Glass Jar with Airtight Lid 2000ml/8.45 cups for umeshu | 1500ml/6.34 cups for ume syrup
* 1 tablespoon (tbsp) = 15 ml, 1 teaspoon (tsp) = 5 ml
* The ingredients contain Amazon affiliate links.
Instructions
- First, let's sterilize the containers for ume syrup and umeshu. Dried the pre-washed airtight containers completely and wipe them with Japanese distilled liquor called shochu, which is 35% alcohol by volume. If you can't use any alcohol, check the last part of the instructions to sterilize the containers with boiling water. Dampen a paper towel with the liquor and thoroughly wipe the inside and around the mouth of the containers.
- Wipe the inner lid and outer lid as well.
- This sterilizing process is especially important to allow umeshu to age properly.
- Next, let's prepare the green ume fruits for ume syrup and umeshu. Transfer pre-washed ume into two bowls.
- Soak the ume in a large amount of water for 2 hours to remove any bitterness.
- Strain the green ume.
- Dry the ume thoroughly with a clean kitchen towel and paper towel.
- Remove the stem end of ume with a bamboo skewer. Be careful not to damage the skin. Keeping the ume skin clean and removing any moisture on the surface will help to keep the bacteria from growing.
- Let's make ume syrup first. Add the green ume in the sterilized container. Add rock sugar.
- Add the ume and then rock sugar again.
- Finally, add the vinegar to prevent the ume from fermenting.
- Seal the container with the inner lid and outer lid.
- Rotate the container and mix the ume, rock sugar and vinegar well. For the first day, rotate the container frequently to dampen the ume with the liquid.
- This is the ume syrup after a couple hours.
- This photo shows the ume syrup after 2 days. From the second day, rotate the container several times a day, and keep the ume always wet. This is also important to prevent the bacteria from growing. After 1 week, all the rock sugar should be dissolved. After 3 weeks, the ume surface gets wrinkled and all the ume juice is extracted. Remove the ume fruits and store the ume syrup in the refrigerator.
- Let's make umeshu. Add the green ume in the sterilized container. Add the rock sugar.
- Add the ume.
- And the rock sugar again.
- Pour in the 35% alcohol shochu, Japanese distilled liquor.
- Seal the container with the lid.
- Store the container in a cool and dark place and occasionally rotate it to mix the ume and sugar evenly.
- This is 11 days later. Left is the ume syrup, and right is the umeshu.
- This is the umeshu after 1 year. It takes 6 months for the umeshu to be drinkable, but aging 1 to 2 years makes it full-flavored.
- You can mix ume syrup with cold water, carbonated water or milk.
- Umeshu can be tasted on the rocks, or mixed with carbonated water or hot water.
Hot Water Sterilization
- If the temperature of glass changes abruptly, the container will crack so please follow the instructions. Place the jar in a large pot and pour in hot water that you are barely able to touch until it overflows. Let it sit for several minutes and transfer the water into the pot.
- Next, pour boiling water into the jar until overflowing and allow it to sit for several minutes. Then, discard the water and place it on a cooling rack upside down. When completely dried, carefully wipe the inside of the container and lid with a paper towel dampened with vinegar. Be careful not to burn yourself with the boiling water.
Recipe Notes
Do not eat unripe green ume in raw. They contain toxic substances.
Choose clean ume fruits which don't have any bruises.
Fully ripe ume fruits contain more sugar and easily ferment. You can use ripe ume but it will be difficult to store them properly.
We used a minimal amount of sugar in the umeshu so you can add syrup to taste.
Hi, I’m new to making ume syrup. Instead of rock sugar, I used honey instead. So it’s 500g of ume and 500g of honey. Will this work? There was some active bubbling in the first 2 days and now the ume are slightly wrinkled up and honey is more watery. Not sure how long I should keep the ume in the honey and whether it’s edible!
We are concerned that the syrup was bubbling.🤔 Does it smell sour like vinegar or alcohol? Fermentation will occur if the jar is not cleaned enough or if there is residual water in it. If it smells sour, please transfer the ume syrup to a pot and sterilize it for 15 minutes. Do not boil the syrup. The temperature should be below the boiling point. When it cools down, put it in a clean dry jar again. When the ume are wrinkled thoroughly, it is ready to enjoy the ume syrup.🥃😋
For the syrup:
Can I leave the ume in the syrup after 3 weeks and store it that way? What will happen to the syrup? Will it spoil or become bitter?
You should remove the ume after 3 weeks to reduce the risk of spoiling the syrup.😊 The used ume can be used to make jam!🍞 Since ume has a relatively strong acidity, be sure to use an enamel pot to make the ume jam.
Thank you for your help! I really enjoy your videos on YouTube.
Glad we could help.🐩👩🍳💗 Thank you for your support😍❣️
Hello! Thank you very much for sharing these instructions and your YouTube video. I decided to try making Umeshu for the first time and your directions were so helpful. I decided to make two jugs of Umeshu – one to try at 6 months and the other to try after one year. I mixed both on the very same day about two weeks ago and I just checked on them for the first time and noticed that in one jug the Ume are all floating at the very top while in the other jug the ume are all completely submerged by about one inch of the shochu but still floating (not at the bottom of the jar). Do I need to do anything to either jug? Is something wrong ?
This is a tough question and difficult to answer…😅 As long as clean unripe green ume are used with 35% alcohol shochu in sterilized containers, we think ume will not spoil so you should be able to enjoy umeshu after 6 months or 1 year.🥃😋