It's that time of the year in Japan to pick unripe plums and make homemade ume-shu- a sweet Japanese liquor that results from steeping sho-chu (alcohol), rock sugar, and ume (plums). On Saturday a group of us headed out to western Tokushima to gather some plums for our own homemade ume-shu.
Shimada sensei, Sarah's coworker, was really excited to have us at her mother's farm. She gave us important advice like not to eat the unripe plums because they can cause some unpleasant stomach problems...and unfortunately for most of us this advice was shared a bit too late.
Sarah displayed the common 'Tokushima farmer look' style very well.
And I think that Yuko had done this before...
This part of Tokushima is beautiful and very green now that the rainy season is here and most of the rice has already been planted. Rice fields are also an important host to a lot of wildlife in the area. Evenings are filled with the sounds of frogs, soon to be replaced with cicadas once the summer heat arrives.
The plums were first soaked in water for about 3 hours and then the stems taken out using a toothpick. The jar that I am using is 4 liters and for 1 kg of plums (about 45 of them). I added 1.8 liters of sho-chu and 600 grams of rock sugar to the jar and then closed the lid tightly. From what I know it's best to refrigerate the jar while the mixture steeps but my fridge is not nearly large enough so I just put it in a cupboard under my sink. I'm not sure how cool it will stay once the summer arrives, though.
So in about three months I'll be enjoying a nice glass of ume-shu on the rocks that will hopefully assuage the late summer heat in Shikoku.
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