Ume Juice

I love finding ways to preserve seasonal flavors so I can enjoy them all year long. One way I do this is by making fruit-infused liqueurs. Uméshu (梅酒), or "plum wine" is made in this manner, by soaking ume fruit and rock sugar in shochu. The problem with this method is that it uses alcohol as a solvent to extract the flavors from the fruit. This is fine for making cocktails, but not very useful for other purposes, and it obviously can't be consumed by children.

I've recently discovered a far more versatile way to preserve the essence of seasonal fruit by using just sugar. In the same way that salt draws liquid out of fruits and vegetables through osmosis, sugar can also extract a fruit's juices. This creates an ultra-concentrated syrup that can be cut with water to make a juice; poured on pancakes or yogurt; or even used as a flavorful sweetener for marinades and sauces. I figured if it works for other kinds of fruit, why not ume?

Ume is a member of the Prunus genus, and although it's often translated as "plum", ume is actually more closely related to apricots. They come into season in late spring and early summer and although they can be a bit hard to find in the US, I have seen them at large Japanese grocery stores when they're in season, and because the ume tree has stunning pink blossoms, they're planted all over the world as a decorative tree. The fruit itself is very tart and astringent, which makes them inedible fresh, but they have a wonderful fragrance that can be unleashed by turning them into umeboshi, or extracting ume juice.

Red shiso is the herb added to make umeboshi red, and I love adding it to my umeshu both for its color and fragrance. It imbues this ume juice with a deep blush, while contributing a warm herbal flavor that compliments the floral fragrance of the ume beautifully. If you can't find red shiso near you, you can omit it, or go with some other herb.

To speed things up, I used the same method that I use for making fruit liqueurs and froze the ume first. This accelerates the process by damaging the cell walls in the fruit, giving you a good yield of umé syrup in about two weeks. Because there is no heat applied, the fragrance remains unchanged.

As for the ume, it's given up most of its liquid, so it ends up with a texture like dried fruit. Loath to waste anything, I ended up tossing the spent fruit in a pot with some sugar and water and cooked it until it was tender enough to remove the seeds, turning it into a jam.

Once you have your syrup you can make ume juice by mixing 1 part ume syrup with 4 parts still or sparkling water, and then adding ice. For those of you that love umeshu, you can make a fresh version by mixing 1 part ume syrup with 2 parts shochu, and then enjoy it on the rocks, or with a splash of soda water.

I haven't tried this method with other fruit yet, but there's no reason why it shouldn't work with stone fruit such as apricots, cherries, plums, and peaches. I also think it should work with other fruit in general, such as strawberries or melon.

📖 Recipe

Ume Juice

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 14 days d

Yield 25 2 tablespoon servings

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Ingredients 

1x2x3x

• 1 kilogram green ume
• 1 kilogram rock sugar
• 50 grams red shiso leaves only

Instructions

• Put the ume in a freezer bag and freeze for at least 24 hours.
  
• Remove the ume from the freezer and add the rock sugar and shiso to the bag.
  
• Seal the bag and place it in the refrigerator for 2 weeks.
• At the end of the 2 weeks, you can strain the syrup, pressing on the solids to get as much liquid out as you can.
• Store the syrup in the refrigerator.

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Nutrition

Calories 174kcalCarbohydrates 44gPotassium 103mgSugar 43gVitamin A 770IUVitamin C 4mgCalcium 5mgIron 0.2mg