This year, for the first time, I took part in the seasonal tradition of making umeshu. Umeshu is often translated as 'plum wine' in English, but it is actually plum liqueur. Wine would indicate fermentation, whereas umeshu is simply clear alcohol steeped with Japanese plums and sweetened with rock sugar.
Umeshu is available commercially all year, but you can only make it yourself in late-May/early-June when unripe Japanese plums are available for purchase. Making umeshu is extremely simple, and they make it even simpler by putting all required ingredients in the same section at the grocery store. They even go so far as to package the ingredients so that you don't even need to measure them out; just empty all three packs into a jar!
For our umeshu, we bought a 4-liter jar from Muji, a 1 kg pack of plums, a 1 kg pack of rock sugar, and a 1.8 liter bottle of white liquor. We literally bought a carton labeled "white liquor," but any shochu or vodka would work. Simply layer plums and rock sugar (recipes recommend anywhere from 500 grams to the whole 1 kg) and cover with the whole bottle of white liquor. The umeshu should be drinkable in three months and ideal in six. It's recommended to store it in a cool dark place while it steeps and to occasionally shake it to make sure the sugar is mixing well.
Umeshu can be drunk on the rocks or mixed with soda. It is extremely sweet and easy to drink, and I recommend that everyone give it a try. It's rich and fruity flavor is appreciated by connoisseurs as well as those who typically don't drink alcohol at all. We'll be sampling ours around Christmas time!
