Recipe? Plum Wine/Umeshū! (Patreon)

Every year around the end of May, beginning of June all the supermarkets and mom and pop corner stores start selling big bags of plums as well as everything you need to make umeshu or (plum wine) or plum juice or umeboshi (pickled plums). This is the first year I've been too busy to even think about it. 

But Richard picked up the mantle and we bought everything and he even watched dozens of videos and wrote down a recipe! 

Below is Richard's Umeshu recipe: 

I'm mean, there're all pretty much the same. But he did take note of all the important points. 

From Richard:

It's umeshu makin' season and we're getting adventurous this year. Until now we've only made it the typical way:

1 liter white liquor

1 kg green ume

1 kg rock sugar

This year we're going to try:

750 ml 30 or 43 ABV awamori

300-400g yellow ume (riper ume are sweeter)

150-200g brown sugar (called black sugar in Japanese)

And rum. And brandy. And port wine, if we can find it. I saw someone use honey instead of rock sugar. Hmm...

Fun fact: Always use higher than 20 ABV alcohol so you don't end up serving yourself a big ol' nasty glass of bacteria. It's actually the law. I don't know how they enforce that...

I'm watching a ton of 梅酒 作り方 and 果実酢 作り方 for using other fruits. The most interesting thing I've seen is a pro izakaya chef who lets the ume turn yellow then he freezes them solid. Freezing breaks down the ume cells and helps them release their tasty goodness. Yellow ume are sweeter. Some lady said DON'T use yellow ume. I'll go with the pro's advice.

The procedure goes, based on an amalgamation of what various people do:

1. Soak the ume for 1-2 hours to remove the "aku," which usually means "scum," but in this case I assume it's the fine coating of fuzz.

2. Remove the "heta" with a toothpick. No idea what "heta" is in English. The little black things you don't want floating in yer delicious booze.

3. Dry them thoroughly. Put them in the freezer.

4. Some people say you should put a layer of ume in the jar, then a layer of rock sugar, then ume, then sugar... The pro chef just dumped the ume in the jar and covered them with sugar. I'm going with that.

4.5 Sterilizing the jar with 消毒液 or some white liquor sounds like a good idea.

5. Pour in the booze, seal the jar, label it with the date and ingredients. Kudos for Terrie for doing this the last time because I know this time to use less sugar.

6. Give the jar a shake every few weeks.

7. People say wait at least three months. No way. We always wait at least a year, sometimes two because we forget it's there.

There are actually videos on how to remove the heta with a toothpick. I assume they're for the same people who need to watch videos on how to boil water.