Pink Umeshu is Absolutely a Thing! A Guide to Umeshu Colors

Has your homemade umeshu turned an icky hue of green or a cutesy tint of bubblegum pink?
Don’t throw it out yet. Read this page first.

Amber is Umeshu’s “Standard” Colour

Most umeshu you see in stores come in a bright and clear amber colour.
This is because when you steep ume fruits in rock sugar and liquor,
the rock sugar slowly dissolves to help extract polyphenols (healthy anti-oxidizing compounds!)
from the ume fruits into the liquor.

We use rock sugar for umeshu because table sugar, with its fine crystals,
dissolves too quickly to help with extracting the ume fruits’ nutrients.
Rock sugar’s large crystals help it dissolve slowly.

Also, rock sugar is mainly made of fructose. When fructose reacts with polyphenols,
it produces the standard amber colour of umeshu.

Why Does My Umeshu Have a Strange Colour?

If you’re wondering whether your umeshu’s color is caused by pickling it for too long,
we have a guide on the optimal pickling times here (How Long Should I Pickle My Plum Wine?).

It’s fairly normal for homemade umeshu to turn a variety of colours, including pink, green, or transparent,
but they should be safe to drink.

When you first begin pickling your umeshu,
it may turn a light shade of pink or have no color at all depending on the species of ume fruit you used.
After a while, the color should slowly turn amber.

However, if you pickled the umeshu in liquor with too high of an ABV,
the strong alcohol could dissolve the pigments of the ume skin, making your umeshu turn green.

Can I Make an Epic-Coloured Umeshu on Purpose?

In Japan, many umeshu hobbyists produce colorful umeshu by taking advantage of high ABV liquor’s tendency to leech colours.
They might use a few dark-coloured fruits like plums or cherries to give their umeshu a red or pink tint.
If you want to impress your friends and family with an all-natural colourful brew, give it a try!