Umeshu

[Downwards]

Not technically a wine at all, it's a maceration of green plum that sit in sweetened soju for 6 months to a year. Very tasty stuff.

Anybody ever made it before who might be able to direct me on something? I followed the instructions I had found on line, but I have a problem a week or so in. The jars I was using were under an extreme amount of pressure. I opened them because the lids were actually bending. Probably lucky nothing blew up. I know this shouldn't actually ferment because the alcohol content is supposed to be too high, but once I released the pressure on the lid bubbles started flowing out of the plums themselves.

I alternated the recipe a bit using 40% vodka instead of the 35% soju it recommended because I couldn't find one that strong.

Maybe this should be made without the lids tightened down? The recipe wasn't very specific about that.

If you know, please let me know. I'd like to save this batch of 5 jars.

Thanks!

 

[Jericurl]

I love umeshu. How did yours turn out?

 

[jamesngalveston]

what is this stuff...soju

 

[Jericurl]

James,

Soju is a distilled liquor made from rice. It's most similar to vodka.

 

[Jericurl]

Downwards,
I have no idea how to make it, but it sounds similar to infusing something in alcohol.
Did your fruit stay completely submerged under the liquor?

 

[Deezil]

I would think it would have to stay submerged if there was truly no fermentation/production of CO2 or addition of k-meta.. Anything exposed would begin to rot instead, and that probably doesnt taste very nummy

Makes me wonder if the juice from the plums diluted the vodka to a point that it could ferment... A little over 1/2 juice, would cut the 40% to under 20%... But still, even then thats a stretch to start a new fermentation... So I dunno..

Did a little reading, and it seems that Umeshu is made with unripe fruits... They would lack sugar, to ferment.. But what I read also says they add sugar..

1 kg unripe fruit
500g - 1kg sugar
1.8L shochu/soju

Would have to mix the sugar into the alcohol & measure the SG to see 'far out' the SG is - and if it'd have the potential to ferment or not.

Also suspect that the unripe nature of the fruit means that they lack natural juices, helping to keep from diluting the liqueur too much & sparking fermentation that way

 

[Downwards]

What gave me the idea for this was a friend brought us some plums that were totally hard and green. They were full sized and I figure that she only picked them like that because she likes them really tart??? Anyway there were so many that I googled what to do with green plums and discovered an umeshu recipe. I had tasted it before, but never knew how it was made.

Anyway it's interesting that this thread just got bumped. I actually just took it off the fruit way early because we are moving. It's really good actually! I can only imagine what it would have been like if it finished. I simply unscrewed the caps some so that the little bit of gas being created could escape. Using vodka, I wasn't too worried about oxidizing.

The bubbles were indeed coming out of the fruit, so that's where fermentation was happening. I know there is also some discrepancy with what fruit Ume actually is. They call it the Japanese plum, but it is supposedly more closely related to apricots if I recall correctly. Flavor is more like a plum though, so they are often substituted.

Next year I want to try another recipe I read about that uses green walnuts that are still soft inside. It sounds delicious and uses nearly the same technique, I guess this one is Italian.