There is a farm where Japanese lady is producing Nanko-bai considered as the best Japanese plum, and I used to order every season and made plum wine, plum whiskey, plum juice and compotes.
This recipe is very comprehensive and I usually fllow this. Even for non Japanese reading people, it should be helpful to see the photos. I like sweet plum wine and use 800g of sugar. I use white sugar instead of rock sugar as I could not find it in New Zealand.
With the same recipe, I also tried with whiskey, and we love it too!
Ingredients
1kg of green plums, ideally Nanko-bai * mine was more like yellow with some places slightly orange and red, but it was fine.
500-800g of rock sugar *I use white sugar
1.8-2l of vodka *can be whiskey or brandy or any other liquor stronger than 35%.
A large(4L) glass jar
A few skewers or tooth pics
Instruction
1.Clean the bottle and the lid properly, either wiping with a kitchen paper with vodka, or hot water. If you use hot water, make sure your glass jar is not cold. Probably warming it with a warm tap water first may be safe.
2.If your plums are green and not Nanko-bai, soak them in a water for 2-4 hours to remove bitterness.If your plums are not very green or Nanko-bai,or frozen ones, skip this step.
3.Wash all plums with running water, and removing the water completely by wiping them or leaving them on the strainer.
4.Remove a stem of each plum with a skewer. While doing this, if there is any plum looking damaged, do not use it. You can use these for jam or compotes.
5.Place plums at the bottom of a jar, 1 layer, then add rock sugar, then plums and sugar again. Repeat this until you finish plums and sugar.
6. Slowly pour vodka.
7. Cover the jar with a lid, and leave in a dark place of your place. Shake the jar several times a week to have sugar go evenly to all plums until the sugar is melt. I also put a sticker with the date and the year I made on the jar.
8. You can start drinking after 3 months but it may be still too young. After 6-12 months should be good.
9. After 12 months, remove all plums as old plums may make it bitter or milky.