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1
Select only the unblemished fruit from the ripe ume plums you have, and wash them in water.
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2
There's no need to soak the plums to remove their bitterness.
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3
Unripe ume plums should not be used, since they won't become soft.
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4
Wipe each washed plum one by one carefully using paper towels.
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5
Pry out the stem ends with a bamboo skewer.
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6
Measure the ume plums, and then measure out 8% of their weight in coarse salt.
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7
Put the ume plums from Step 2 into brand new poly bags, and sprinkle them with the coarse salt.
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8
Sprinkle in the white liquor too.
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9
Close up the bags with elastic bands while expressing the air out of them.
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10
Put the filled bags from Step 4 in a large tub (a packing box is fine).
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11
Put plates or pot lids on them, and add light weights (1 to 2 kg).
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12
Unopening salt or sugar boxes are convenient weights.
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13
Put the container in a place where you can take a look at it frequently until a lot of liquid (ume-su) comes out of the ume plums.
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14
Once the liquid comes out, lighten the weights so that the plums don't get crushed.
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15
When the plums are completely immersed in the liquid, you don't need to weight them down anymore.
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16
Leave the bags as is in the container until the rainy season has ended (after June).
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17
When the rainy season has ended, dry the umeboshi in a sunny place for 3 days.
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18
You can put the plums back in the liquid if you like, but since they are soft and juicy anyway, I just took them inside.
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19
Don't let the umeboshi become wet!
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20
Watch out for sudden rains or evening thunderstorms.
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21
Done!
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22
I used these large ziplock bags, to make 1.5 kg batches of umeboshi.
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23
They will exude a lot of liquid (ume-su) in 2 to 3 days.
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24
Line them up with the zip side up in a packing box.
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25
Take the weights off once the plums are immersed in liquid.
