May is the month when unripe Japanese plums are ready for picking. I paid Nagomi farm in my own city of Odawara a visit to buy some of these plums in order to make plum juice myself.

Why do I want unripe Japanese plums, you ask? It’s because plum juice has to be made from unripe ones. Ripe ones will rot easily in the process of juice making.

This is Mr. Kawakubo, the owner of the farm. He showed me three types of Japanese plums in his farm. Shirakaga plums are the best for making plum juice. Juurou plums are the best for making umeboshi (salt plums). Nanko plums can be used to make both plum juice or salt plums.

Me holding bags of unripe Shirakaga plums. I was bursting with anticipation for that juice already.

This whole stretch of land is used to cultivate plums! This is a famous spot for viewing Japanese plum blossoms in March. I wrote a report about it back then.

Now, the making of plum juice. It is a long process that takes one week from start till end.

First and foremost, clean the plums and soak them in water for two hours.

Next, dry the plums and put them in a container along with rock sugar. The rock sugar is purely personal preference, as it makes the plum juice sweet instead of just sour. Let the plums sit for one week, and the plums skin will shed naturally and sink to the bottom. What’s left will be delicious, delicious plum juice.

This is what it looks like on the second day. Still quite a ways to go.

And this is the end product. Fuji Hakone Travel Guide plum juice! Love em’ plum juice!

Those interested, do try buying Japanese plums and make your own plum juice!

By Desheng.

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