Step 1

Gather all the ingredients. Rinse the jar thoroughly with soap and hot water and wipe with a clean towel. While the jar is still hot, pour boiling water and shake to clean and drain. Air dry until completely dry. Damp the clean towel with shochu or vodka (Make sure it is at least 35% ABV (alcohol by volume) or 70 proof) and wipe inside the jar.

Step 2

Wash the green ume plums and immediately dry them thoroughly.

Step 3

Remove stem ends from the plums with a bamboo skewer or toothpick. Discard plums with any brown or blemished spots.

Step 4

In the clean jar, add miso and plums in a single layer.

Step 5

Then put the sugar, miso, plums in a single layer again, followed by sugar. Repeat this process until you’re done with the plums and sugar. Tip: the last layer of plums should be completely covered with miso/sugar.

Step 6

Seal, write the date on the jar and store in a cool, dark place (no refrigerator) for 1 month. Once in a while, shake/rotate the jar to make sure the plums are covered with the miso/sugar mixture so the plums won't go bad.

Step 7

Option 1: After one month, you can mix it up with a clean spoon and store it in the refrigerator for up to a year. The flavor is matured from 2-3 months after storing in the refrigerator, but you can start using it as soon as you finish fermenting for a month. You can eat ume itself, or cut it up (remove a seed) and use it in an ume miso recipe. Option 2: After one month, you can remove seeds from all the ume plums, chop up the ume into small pieces, put them back into the ume miso, and boil the mixture on low heat for several minutes (to kill any bacteria) before storing it in a new clean jar.