On the way there, we stopped at the brew store, and mrguy mentioned that mrguy south had recently seen a kit for making umeshu, one of my favorite potions (1). Ume is a fruit that is referred to as a Japanese plum. It is actually a smaller green cousin of the apricot. Umeshu is a plum beverage made from that fruit. What would it take for us make our own umeshu?
Not five minutes later, we were in the fish market, with a box of ume and a recipe staring right at us, taunting us to buy. So we did. Here's how you make it:
Wash the ume and pick off the blossom ends. Fill a sterilized canning jar half-full with fruit. Weigh the fruit.
Add half its weight in rock sugar.
Pour in shoju to cover.
We experimented with two different types of shoju: imo, which has a stronger taste, and a different kind that is milder. Just for fun, we did one smaller batch with some smelly Baijiu (Chinese moonshine) that I bought at Ranch 98.
All we have to do is wait 3 months and hope the jars don't explode in the hall closet.
Easy peasy.
(1) As an aside, I learned a while back that plum wine was the preferred beverage of one Donald DeFreeze, aka Cinque, leader of the Symbionese Liberation Army. The Patty Hearst kidnapping and all of that mayhem? Fueled by plum wine. Not that that's any recommendation!
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