How to make Umeshu (plum wine)

Plum wine is fun to make and a good way to participate in the Japanese culture while you're here in Japan. 
There are a good number of websites out there in English on how to make Umeshu (plum wine), but not many that clearly show you exactly how it is done. I've included the links to the ones I've found below that do a pretty good job. This will save me a lot of work since I won't have to explain all the steps - but I will explain some slight differences based on what I learned about the process.

(For the 2013 season please see my new post here for some interesting variants)

If you'd like to see some Japanese websites on how to make it, you can perform a web search using these terms "梅酒  作り方" (plum wine, make, directions) and you will find many websites with good pictures. Using your browser translator you should be able to figure all of them out.

One thing (that the second link points out) is that Umeshu is not really made from plums and is not a wine. It is made from the Japanese apricot and is a liquor. But since the common name used among most of my highly educated friends and the rest of society is "plum wine," we'll use that or just "umeshu" for simplicity.  I'll do another post on buying umeshu at the store so I'll not really get into the Kanji for it other than this: 梅酒　with the first character meaning plum and the second one wine, liquor, alcohol.

Instructional websites:
http://www.justhungry.com/homemade-japanese-umeshu-plum-wine-honey-sour

http://blue_moon.typepad.com/blue_lotus/2008/06/making-umeshu.html

and a video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlBNdRKNhJI

Bag o plums

If you want to make plum wine you'll have to get the plums from around May to early July when they're in season. Most supermarkets will put up displays near the entrance that's hard to miss. They'll have everything you need to make it all in that area from the bottles, rock sugar, and the plums. The plums are not ripe yet and that is by design. There are some other variants on plum wine where you make them with some more mature plums as you get later in the season.


First problem you have to figure out though is how much do I get of each so that I have the right proportions?

Every package (plums, jars, sugar) will all have directions to tell you the proportions except they are all in Japanese. And the sugar package might say something different from the plum package from the jar.


It seems the instructions that come with the bottle are the most reliable. In the picture below you can see that for a 3 liter bottle, you'll need 1kg of plums, 1800 ml of white alcohol (35%), and 500g of sugar. The last column is if you are substituting honey for rock sugar.

So just check the packages for the weights and buy accordingly.

Interestingly, but not surprisingly, the sugar package tells you to use a 1:1 ratio of plums to sugar or 1kg sugar to 1kg plums. Most of what I've read tell you to go light on the sugar because you can always add more later.

At one of my favorite yakitori restaurants, Maido, the owner said he only uses 200g (per 1 kg plums) and then adds additional sugar later if needed.

Soaking the plums removes bitterness

Almost all the instructions I've come across say to pay close attention to washing and drying the plums. I would wash them after removing the stem.  Pesticides could very well have been used so you want to clean them well.

Some instructions said to let the plums soak in water for an hour or two or even overnight to get rid of some of the bitterness and for a smoother taste. I did take the time to do this even though I was anxious to get the yearlong process underway.

The drying is very important, so don't cut it short.

One of the websites linked above also says to poke several holes in each of the plums. While this may be OK, I could not find any Japanese instructions that said to do this so I did not do this. It may help the plums infuse quicker but I felt the slow infusing process was important.

Here you can see I have three, 3-liter bottles and 3 packages of 1800ml white alcohol. Its important that it be 35%.

Another very important message in all the instructions was proper sanitation. So start by washing your hands really well and then the bottles. I also wiped the inside of each bottle with the white alcohol to disinfect them. Get all parts of the inner surface of the bottle including the cap.

Layering the sugar and plums

All the instructions say to layer the plums and the sugar in alternate layers. But after a few days you'll find that all the sugar sank to the bottom of the jar, and all the plums floated to the top. So it probably doesn't matter.

But I'm a nuke and I tend to follow the instructions so just follow them. It also looks really neat too and you can show all your friends the secret of umeshu making and how critical this step is.

You'll add the alcohol last and if you've done your proportions right you should be able to add the entire 1800ml bottle of white alcohol.

I've made two umeshu jars and one orange and lemon. The instructions that come with the jars tell you how to make it with other fruits. The good news is that other fruit doesn't take a year, the bad news is that it doesn't taste as good as the umeshu.

Take a picture and put them in a cool dark place for 6-12 months or longer. Periodically you will shake the jars to redistribute the sugar and to mix up any layers that may have developed.

The instructions say you can start to enjoy it after 3 months but no one would rightly do this or should do this. All evidence points to waiting at least one year.

After a year you can take out the plums and save them in the fridge or freezer. Other references say you can leave the plums in the jar, and that is what they do at my favorite Yakitori places called Maido. I plan on leaving most of them in as right now (8 months in) the plums look pretty good and not turning wrinkly or brown.

After 8 months on the top or left (depending on your browser) and after 11 months on the bottom or right. A slight but perceptible change in color.  

At 11 months I took a few plums out. They were surprisingly very firm. I thought they were going to get soft and mushy but they seem to have kept their original texture - they tasted great.

Tougarashi (hot chili pepper) umeshu experiment

In my other post - Plum wine buying guide - I explained that I had found a new flavor of plum wine called tougarashi umeshu or とうがらし梅酒 and thought it would be simple to try to replicate at home.  The term "replicate" should be used loosely here, as I read the label on the professionally made one a little closer and found out it was made with honey and not sugar.  They also added vitamin C of all things. Umeshu has been touted as being healthy though so I suppose the extra vitamin C just makes it even more so.

So it doesn't get much easier than this. I took some of my 11 month old umeshu and filtered it through a coffee filter into another bottle.  Added one chili pepper without scoring it. I'll have to test it every few days to see how long it takes to infuse into the umeshu.

Dried tougarashi

Additional posts still in development: How to make coffee shu or coffee liquor, and how to make Yuzu Umeshu (even better than Umeshu)