Maesil-cheong (Green Plum Syrup)

Maesil-cheong is green plums layered with an equal weight of sugar and left to draw out into a syrup. It reads like a dessert ingredient and is used almost entirely as a savoury one.

In a Korean kitchen it is the default sweetener for marinades, dipping sauces and stir-fries — it adds sweetness plus a clean fruit acidity that plain sugar cannot, which is why it turns up in so many meat marinades and gochujang-based sauces.

What it is used for

Marinades — a spoonful in a bulgogi or pork marinade rounds off the soy and adds fruity acidity.

Sauces — it balances the raw edge of gochujang in dipping sauces and stir-fry glazes.

Drinks — diluted with cold or sparkling water, which is the use most people meet first.

Digestive — traditionally taken neat after a heavy meal, which is where much of its reputation comes from.

Take the plums out

If you are making it, this is the step people miss. The fruit should be strained out after roughly 100 days. Left in indefinitely, the plums break down and the syrup turns cloudy and can develop a bitter, slightly medicinal edge from the stones.

Once strained, the syrup keeps for years at room temperature — the sugar concentration is doing the preserving.

Substitutes

No exact match, because you are replacing sweetness and acidity. The workable approximation is honey or sugar plus a squeeze of lemon or a splash of rice vinegar, adjusted to taste.

Jocheong (Korean rice syrup) substitutes for the sweetness and body but brings no acidity. Mirin brings a little of both and is the closest single-bottle stand-in for marinades.

Buying it

Sold in jars in most Korean grocers, often labelled plum extract or plum syrup. Check that plums and sugar lead the ingredient list rather than fructose syrup and flavouring.

Colour ranges from pale gold to deep amber; darker generally means longer aged and a slightly deeper flavour, not better or worse.