I am a lucky person … why? Because I live in a house with an awesome GARDEN in Tokyo! Not many can say that. I live in a house with plenty of green and I love it! That is actually one of the main reasons I chose Machida Garden. Look at this:
Now, I am not really a gardener. Having goods things require major responsibilities and having a garden like ours demands time and patience. In addition to that I am afraid I was not born to grow my own veggies and a cactus doesn’t last much in my possession 🙁 So how can I have an awesome garden in my house without it becoming a hopeless jungle? I have the luck to have housemates that love gardening! They take good care of the garden and I may say I enjoy having people like them around. They are a French couple that enjoys working on our Japanese garden in exchange of a discount in their rent with Oakhouse.
So I get to enjoy the benefits of a garden without being an expert: In our garden we have a plum tree and a kaki tree. And what did we do? We did Umeshu last weekend. Yes, The kaki season is over, it was in November and we had plenty of kakis to make jam until we got sick of it:
However picking the Ume (plums) last weekend reminded me of the good time we had last November and that it is nice to have a garden and have something to do with the fruits in all seasons.
In Japan there are a couple of things you can do with Ume. You can try to do Umeboshi, which is like a pickled plum that you can eat with rice. Some people hate it because it is extremely salty and sour, some people love it, I personally looooove it! Nonetheless our Ume were very green to make Umeboshi and with my housemates, who are not as Umeboshi fans as I am, decided to make Umeshu.
Umeshu is a sweet liquor made with steeping Ume, fruit alcohol and rock sugar. If you are interested to make this liqueur, you need:
a. 2¼ lbs of unripe green Ume plums. If you don’t have a plum tree like me, you can buy them in the supermarket, they look like this:
b. 2 lbs of Rock sugar (or kouri zatou 氷砂糖 is Japanese). Rock sugar is preferred because it melts very slowly, however if you cannot find it, you can also use granulated sugar.
c. 7½ cups of Shochu or another flavorless distilled alcoholic beverage. (any white liquor with 35% will be fine. No worries, at the end your Umeshu will be 15%)
d. Very important: a sterilized glass jar that you can hermetically close with a plastic lid. You can buy the jar in any big supermarket store (especially during this season) or in Tokyu Hands. Most supermarkets will sell the DIY Umeshu kit if you feel you don’t want to search all ingredients separately.
e. And the last thing you need is: PATIENCE – You will not enjoy your drink right the way. Once you have followed all steps, you need to store your jar for 6 months to have real Umeshu. If you really want it to have a strong taste, store it for 1 or 2 years!
NOW, once you have all ingredients:
1.Clean the Ume! Remove the dead skin, any “bruises” and the stem. The stems are small and deep, so use a toothpick or your pinky fingernail to dig them out.
2. Once your Ume are clean and dried with a towel, place a layer of plums in the jar, then a layer of rock sugar, then a layer of plums, then a layer of rock sugar. Continue until all the plums and sugar are used up.
3. Pour the alcohol in the jars until there’s about an inch of alcohol over the top of the plums.
4. Put the lid on the jar securely and store the plums in a cool, dark place. Shake the jar occasionally to help the sugar mix with the alcohol. Like I said, after 6 months, the umeshu is ready to drink. However, this liqueur is better with age, so you may notice a different flavor after a year or two.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CHEK OUT THIS LINK:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlBNdRKNhJI
ENJOY!
