not sure about choya brand, but a friend of mine has had a home-made umeshu for more than two years, unrefrigerated, and it tastes great every time we dip into it.
Ume shu is made with enormous quantities of sugar...I used to make it annully when I lived in Japan! It keeps in the frdge for months if you can resist it!
Has anyone tried to make the local plum with the local shochu. They have great crystal sugar here, much cheaper than Japan.
Try thinly-sliced lemon and honey, keep in the fridge for a few days, mixed with soda water and you have a ginger ale-like drinks.
Perfect for the stifling heat of Guangzhou.
Remember to wash the lemon well.
My umeshu is kept unrefrigerated, it keeps well, the longer the better it gets.
Black cherries are great too... 1.5litres of shochu, 750gram of crysal sugar and leave to marinate in a dark cupboard for a few months and happy christmas... and fabulous to add to trifles, truffles etc...
and lasts for as long as it lasts...
However once cherries (the big black American ones take best) have marinated and are lovely and squidgy and the shouchu deep dark red…
Equal amounts of sieved icing sugar, cocoa, marzipan crumbled together into a bowl. Chop some of the marinated cherries with some nice bright red maraschino cherries and add into the mix, dribble cherry shouchu until mix nice and gooey. Roll into little balls and refrigerate for a while…
Add one large ice cube to glass, pour shot of cherry shouchu, drink.
Grate a tad more of either dark or milk chocolate and chop some of both cherries into flaky shards.
Melt the richest dark chocolate very slowly remembering to take from heat before it all melts as the heat will melt the chunky bits and burnt chocolate is not that malleable.
Allow melted choc to cool a tad as you finish your drink. Retrieve cherry cocoa balls from icebox.
Coat cherry balls in melted chocolate and then roll in choc and cherry flakes to adhere.
Place in tiny cup cakey paper dish or any available mouth…