What’s sweeter than wine made from grapes and has a gentle flavor? Plum Wine.
This homemade wine inspired by the Japanese Umeshu makes an excellent aperitif or after-dinner wine. Traditional Umeshu is made with green plums in their early season starting in the month of May. Since most Japanese persons will tell you those very specific ingredients, that may be hard to find elsewhere outside of Japan, must be used to make a true Umeshu or Plum Wine. This recipe will have to suffice as a substitute and we will not call it true Umeshu.
Regardless what plums you decide to use, this drink will be delicious if done right and given enough time to ferment and stabilize.
How To Consume Plum Wine?
Plum Wine is usually consumed after a full six months or more when the fermentation and curing have had it’s time to meld the flavors together into a lovely alcoholic drink. As with most homemade liquors and alcohols, they take time and waiting to make before consumption. Foresight is essential. Every May a nice batch can be produced, and every summer, after the previous years batch you can then drink on warm evenings under the stars. Plum Wine is served chilled over ice cubes. It can also be made into a wine spritzer with the addition of soda water.
Plum Wine tastes delicious with pork. Have it with some Humba (link) a nice Filipino pork belly recipe or Dinguan (link) pork in black sauce. The sweet subtlety of the Plum Wine offsets the fatty deliciousness a dish with pork.
If you somehow have Plum Wine still left from your summer of drinking, you can serve it slightly warmed on cool evenings in the fall and winter months.
Notes
Cook time is six months.
Ingredients
- 4 quarts water
- 4 cups granulated or crystallized sugar
- 1 cup honey
- 4 lbs. plums
- 1 tsp. nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon pectic enzyme
- 4 quarts clear unflavored liquor or rice wine
- 1 Campden tablet (kills bacteria)
Instructions
- In a heavy pot bring the water, sugar, and honey to a boil.
- Skim any residue that forms on the top of the pot.
- Wash and pit your plums and slice into pieces.
- Pour any plum juice run-off from the plums into the sweet hot water, this will make your wine flavor and color the best it can be.
- Choose a non-reactive, tight-lidded, and opaque container for the fermenting process.
- Place the cut plums into a straining bag or cheesecloth sachet.
- Place the bag of plums into the fermentation vessel and pour the hot water mixture over the plums, then pour the alcohol of choice in as well.
- When the mixture has cooled to room temperature mix in the campden tablet.
- Tightly close the vessel and let it stand for 13 hours.
- Open the vessel and stir in the pectic enzyme, then reseal and let it stand for a full 24 hours.
- The next day stir in the yeast and seal again for 1 week.
- You can check the alcohol content and fermentation at this time.
- Remove the bag of plums and stir in ¼ cup of sugar.
- Seal the vessel and let it stay in a cool place for 3 weeks.
- If you are concerned about bacteria, you can add another campden tablet.
- Bottle the Plum Wine and let is rest and age for 6 months at the very least.