Ume-shu

Ume-shu is a wonderfully simple Japanese liqueur made (usually at home) by steeping small green plums and rock sugar in sho-chu (a Japanese spirit similar to Vodka made from rice, barley, sweet potato, or anything else to hand). After maturing for at least 6 months (and sometimes up to decades), a delicious, mature, and slightly tart flavour develops. Great straight, with ice, or in the summer with soda water.

One of the trees in our garden is an ancient plum. The neighbours tell us the fruit is not that great. But this year it is laden with small green fruits -- so much so that a couple of branches have split off under the weight. Not wanting to waste the immature fruit, I thought I might try a local form of ume-shu. So we now have two large bottles of green plums steeping in local "agua dente" (lit. hard water), which is basically a grappa made from the grape skins after pressing out the juice for wine. For sugar, we had to use ordinary granulated white -- but that shouldn't make a great deal of difference. In a year or so, we'll be able to report on the success or otherwise of this Portuguese ume-shu.

At the same time, I found on the net a suggestion that steeping in wine vinegar would produce a concentrated plum juice. So I made one bottle in that style too....