Last year, the plum wine category was added to a French competition ... adamant about using only locally grown “Nanko-ume” plums. Workers put freshly hand-picked, unripe and green plums ...

Only ripe ume is used for umeboshi. Unripe green ume are more suited to turning into umeshu (plum wine) or syrup. When ume ripens to the point of turning yellow or "blushed," it can be used for ...