Over the past few years, plum wine has become increasingly popular in Japan and worldwide. Many people want to enjoy this specific wine’s rich aroma and taste. If you’re one of these people, we prepared a list of the top 22 plum wine recipes you can follow at home.

What is Plum Wine?

Plum wine, also known as umeshu, is a sweet alcoholic beverage made up of the Japanese plum fruit. Umeshu is made up of two Japanese words. The first one is ume which means plum, and the other one is shu which means alcohol. In the United States, Japanese plum is in season between May and June, so many people try to make umeshu at home.

The recipe to make Japanese plum wine is relatively straightforward; that’s why more people are becoming interested in making them at home. Although most recipes require waiting for a year or more, most people know that it’s just a way to enhance the taste and aroma of any wine.

If you look up plum wine online, you’ll see hundreds of videos and articles on how to do it at home. We’re here to make your life easier by listing down the top 22 plum wine recipes that you can find. These recipes are tested and tried by other people, and they are easy to follow for beginners.

1. HOMEMADE PLUM WINE

We’ll start our Plum Wine recipe list with Fermenting For Foodies. According to them, plum wine is the easiest to make since they are easily fermented. If you’re just a beginner with homemade wine, this is an easy recipe that you can follow. Although the process will take you a year or more, it will be worth it in the end.

2. How To Make Plum Wine-Ferment Fruit To Alcohol Recipe

Another fantastic plum wine recipe on our list comes from My Basil Leaf-Vietnamese-Asian And American Comfort Food Recipes’s YouTube channel. In this video, she thoroughly explains the process with complete tools and ingredients. The process takes up to a month to finish before you can have tasty plum wine.

If you are a bit worried that you might do something wrong and need a visual guide, consider this video one of your top choices.

3. Plum Wine (Umeshu)

If you’re looking for an easy-to-follow plum wine recipe online, check out this recipe from Just One Cookbook. Preparation takes less than 15 minutes, but it’s essential to note that you’ll wait for at least six months before enjoying your plum wine.

Just One Cookbook shows us a simple and generally easy-to-follow recipe.

4. Making Plum Wine: 1 Gallon

The following video recipe on our list comes from DIY Fermentation’s YouTube channel. His channel explains how wines are made in a way beginners can understand.

His instruction for this specific plum wine recipe is to make the wine age for at least 12 months to get the best result. Although there are a few things you need to do during the first fermentation, you’ll be thoroughly guided by this video.

5. Homemade Plum Wine- Simple and Delicious!

Are you looking for a detailed recipe that you can follow step-by-step? Brewsy has got it for you. This straightforward plum wine recipe has six detailed instructions to help you achieve a sweet-tasting wine after a week.

But remember that aging still makes every wine better, so you may also choose to let it sit for a couple of months for a better taste.

6. How to Make Plum Wine (In 12 days)

Next up, we have a video tutorial from KopuFarm on how to make Japanese plum wine in 12 days. His video was short, but it showed everything you could need.

Most of the ingredients he used were either homegrown or homemade. Although exact measurements weren’t given, you can create plum wine depending on how you want it to be.

7. Chopstick Chronicles

Chopstick Chronicles brings us the following recipe on our list with a straightforward take on plum wine. We’re not kidding if we say that there are seven lines of instruction for you to read in their article, and they’re all one sentence each.

That’s how easy this plum wine recipe is. Just leave it for six months or more for the best result.

8. How to Make Japanese Plum Wine

The eighth recipe on our list is from Eatyourkimchi Studio. Their video started with her picking up the finished plum wine from their wine cellar under the floor.

Then she showed the process, which wasn’t a lot since it was reasonably straightforward. The video also showed her trying out the wine for the first time, with all the anxiety that it wouldn’t end up well.

9. Plum Wine-MIKLIA

Over here, we have a fantastic plum wine recipe from MIKLIA. This recipe only needs three main ingredients and less than 20 minutes to prepare.

You first need to prepare everything you’ll need, like the container, Japanese plums, rock sugar, and white liquor. After putting all the ingredients inside the container, as the recipe says, you just need to seal it off and set it aside for six months or more.

10. How to make Plum Wine Recipe by Brewbitz Homebrew

This recipe from Brewbitz Homebrew Shop allows you to choose whatever type of plum you want to use for your wine. If you’re a beginner with winemaking, I suggest that you don’t follow this recipe just yet.

There are a lot of terms that you might not be familiar with yet and ingredients that not all people may know of. However, if you want to take the risk, feel free to do so.

11. PLUM WINE (UMESHU) OR JAPANESE LIQUEUR

Cooking with Nart has appeared on our list with their Japanese plum wine recipe version. Their recipe is the same as the ones before, but what makes theirs different is their exact measurements of what you will need and what you should do so you can adjust it however you like with no problems.

Check out their recipe for easier adjustments of size and portion.

12. [ASMR] How to make UMESHU | PLUM WINE 3 ways

If you’re curious about how plum wine tastes if made with other alcoholic beverages, then this one will satisfy your curiosity. Takoshiho Cooks Japan’s 4-minute video shows three different ways of making plum wine.

The first one is with white liquor, the liquor that’s usually used for male plum wine. In this video, he shows how plum wine is made with whiskey and Japanese sake for those willing to experiment more.

13. Plum Wine-Epicurious

The following plum wine recipe on our list is one from Epicurious. It stands out immediately among all other recipes because you only need a minimum of 3 months for this recipe, unlike most of the ones before, which require six months to a year.

Although you could keep this wine recipe for more than a year, you can start enjoying the taste and aroma of this plum wine as early as three months.

14. Umeshu (Plum Wine) Recipe – Japanese Cooking 101

Over here, we have a quick and easy plum wine recipe from JapaneseCooking101. Their recipe involves using Shochu for sanitation purposes and as a main ingredient for the wine.

Like most of the recipes on our list, it also consists of waiting from 6 to 12 months before you’ll have a ready-to-drink umeshu at home. Preparation will not take much of your time, so why not give it a try?

15. Easy Korean plum wine recipe (maesil-ju)

Next up on our list is a Korean plum wine recipe from Greedy Girl Gourmet. This one-of-a-kind recipe is slightly similar to the Japanese umeshu but with a Korean twist.

In this article, they presented two ways of making plum wine which are Korean and Japanese. What you’ll love about these recipes is that you can create a Korean plum wine and a plum syrup simultaneously with minimal additional effort.

16. PLUM WINE / How to Make Plum Wine at Home / Home Made Plum Wine

Brew with Shokeen’s Japanese plum wine recipe involves using a grinder so if you have one, continue with ease. He started by sterilizing the tools and cleaning the plums.

Then he ground the fruits before adding them to the jar and mixing them with the other ingredients. Their recipe is easy to follow for beginners, and you can simply copy his actions.

17. BEST HOMEMADE JAPANESE PLUM WINE (UMESHU)

If you’re looking for a plum wine recipe with a different variation on the way it’s prepared, Matcha and Tofu have covered you. Their entry on our list is with their Japanese plum wine recipe, which takes less than a day to prepare but more than four hours.

Matcha and Tofu’s article is also filled with a lot of information that you may need about Japanese plum wine and the recipe.

18. Home-made Plum Wine in 15 Days

One of the most straightforward recipes on our list comes from Eat Delicious Everyday. Their 5-minute video tutorial mainly shows their plum wine recipe, which primarily uses plums and hot water.

The process only takes half a month to complete, and after two weeks, you’ll already have a finished product. Of course, you can still choose to let it age for a few months, but you can already drink the product by then.

19. Korean Plum Wine (Maesil Ju) Recipe

Another Korean plum wine recipe on our list is from The Spruce Eats. This Maesil Ju recipe requires less than 15 minutes to prepare and three months of aging before you can enjoy its unique taste.

A couple of tips are included right after the recipe for some adjustments that you might want to make depending on how you want the plum wine to turn out.

20. Plum Wine

The last plum recipe on our list is something you wouldn’t want to miss. Bawarchi has entered our list with their plum wine variation that takes the shortest time before it is ready to be served. For this recipe, you only need to let it sit for three weeks while stirring it every day and then leaving it for a whole month to let it age.

Frequently Asked Questions

Now that we’re done listing down all the best plum wine recipes on the internet, it’s time to answer some of the most frequently asked questions related to the topic. Right now, there might still be some questions lingering in your mind that you want to be answered, so we’ll dedicate this part to that purpose.

1. What are the different variations of Plum Wine?

Some people might not know, but plum wine has many variations. If you ever visit Japan, you’ll face hundreds of plum wine variations you can enjoy to your heart’s content.

Some variations that are worthy of being mentioned in this article are the Choya Umeshu, Takara Kinsen Plum, Choya Ume Blanc, and Choya Kokuto Umeshu. These plum wine variations are easy to find wherever you go in Japan, which makes the experience a hundred times better.

2. What are the Health Benefits of Plum Wine?

Plum wine does have several health benefits, but only if you drink it in moderation. Too much plum wine can be very risky for a person’s health so make sure you don’t overdo it. Plum wine benefits one’s health because it is made from fermented Japanese plums, which are rich in minerals and antioxidants. It also has a lower histamine content than other alcoholic drinks, which is a huge plus. You can never go wrong with some plum wine after a romantic evening meal with your loved ones.

3. Does Plum Wine have an expiration date?

As mentioned before, plum wines work the same as vintage wines. The longer you leave them on a shelf to age, the better they taste. With that said, plum wine doesn’t have an expiration date. You can leave them on a shelf for a long time, and you can come back to give them a taste and be overwhelmed by their enhanced aroma and flavor. If properly stored, your plum wine can last up to 30 years.

Summary

Once you reach this point, you’re done scrolling through our list of the top 22 plum wine recipes. We hope that you were able to pick out a recipe or two that you can easily follow at home. Don’t forget to share this article with your family and friends.