September in the rain... Umeshu

Well my friends it is Sunday eve, and no it may not be September (close enough) but it is indeed raining. What do you do on a rainy Sunday afternoon?  I think the best way to pass the time is to have an adventure, and for myself preferably in the kitchen. 

A good friend of mine just got back from living in Japan for 2 years and has been telling me about Umeshu, amazing sweet plum wine that they make traditionally in Japan around this time of year. The Plume wine takes between 3-6 months to ferment and be ready to drink.  It is traditionally drank over ice or with water. The plume wine is sweet, syrupy and a lovely drink to be had with friends.  From the way she described making Umeshu it sounded fairly easy so I thought... 'Hey why not try!'

Now I can honestly say this was an adventure. We didn't really have a recipe, only my dear friends memory of the process they had used in Japan to make Umeshu. Not to mention my lovely local farmer gave me 40lbs of a different kind of plum than what is traditionally used. However we thought when there's a will there is a way and got to it after watching a short instructional video.

First we bought many different kinds of alcohol with the idea that if we didn't have Shochu we might as well try any and every liquor we thought may taste good with the plums.

We then washed the plums, as said in the video, dried them and rinsed out the jars with alcohol to kill any bacteria.

Then we measured out our sugar. We had both rock sugar and fine sugar. I wanted to test out and see how the liquor would ferment using the two different kinds. 

As we went through the process of drying 40lbs of plums we also had a rainy day glass of wine to help the task along. 

Then the fun part! Filling the jars with sugar and liquor - labeling as we went so that in 3 months we know what kind of plum liquor we are trying.

Then to the basement did the jars go. As they are in need of a cool dark place to sit and becoming a flavorful sweet liquor. I am very excited to visit the jars, shake them up once in a while and see the whole process take shape. Tonight I cheers you and hope that this inspires you to have a true adventure in the kitchen this coming week.

Eat, drink and enjoy!