How Japanese cherry blossom is used in food, what its tastes like, and where in Hong Kong you can fi
The most common method, sakurazuke, involves salting the carefully picked young buds after a meticulous process of washing, draining and drying, and then pickling them in a light plum vinegar to enhance and lock in the vibrant pink hue.
It is said that salt-cured cherry blossoms sprang from the Chimura district of Hadano, in Kanagawa prefecture, towards the end of the Edo period (1603-1867).
The cherry blossoms in this region are robust and full, giving them the name yaezakura, with yae meaning “multiple layers”.
Their abundance has established Chimura’s position as a dominant player in the sakurazuke market, producing roughly 80 per cent of the country’s salt-cured blossoms.
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There are various theories as to their origin story; one suggests that salt-curing the blossoms was the thrifty practice of the proletariat while another points to the district’s history of travellers passing through via the Yagurazawa Okan, an important trade route.
To welcome those who drifted by, the townspeople would serve sakurayu (桜湯) from the tea-houses dotted along the highway.
Either way, given the tedious process of preparing them, as well as the limited time frame in which to do so, it is no wonder that a small 100-gram bag of pickled cherry blossoms today can set you back US$10 to US$20. Typically, the blossoms take about one month to be considered properly cured.
At gourmet Hong Kong supermarket City’super, shoppers can find all manner of sakura-themed and flavoured ingredients in its annual “Sakura Spring” fair, from cherry blossom-infused salts and honey to sakura leaf udon, and even sakura-enhanced natto (fermented soybeans), as well as limited-edition cherry blossom beers, sake and whisky.
“The Japanese use it to make a tea called sakurayu, served at joyous occasions such as weddings, or as an ingredient in wagashi, traditional Japanese desserts,” writes Namiko Chen, the San Francisco-based blogger behind one of the internet’s most popular Japanese recipe resources, Just One Cookbook.
The ingredient was relatively niche outside Japan, but has a growing fan base thanks to accelerated tourism to the country, suggests Chen.
Pre-pandemic, the Japan National Tourism Organisation reported a record 31.9 million inbound travellers in 2019, with their collective spending increasing by 6.5 per cent from 2018 to US$43.6 billion – a seventh consecutive year on the rise.
Chen also says that it helps that the ingredient is becoming more widely available online.
“When I first shared recipes using the salt-pickled cherry blossoms, there was only one source selling [to the United States] online, shipped from Japan,” she says. “Now even Amazon sells it, and so people have easy access.”
As a result, the aesthetically pleasing ingredient has found its way into other non-traditional preparations, including European-style pastries, cakes and cocktails as home cooks and chefs experiment with sakura.
The distinctive aroma arises from the salt-curing process, which enhances the compound called coumarin, commonly found in plants including cherry blossoms; it exudes a sweet, vanilla-like aroma and a slightly bitter taste.
In her extensive archive of recipes, Chen details uses for salted sakura blossoms including cookies, madeleines, milk puddings and rice balls – the versatile ingredient can be used in both sweet and savoury dishes.
However, “it’s delicate so you won’t see it mixed with flavourful food”, Chen writes, adding that the mildness of something like rice works best in allowing the sakura flavour to shine.
At Shari Shari Kakigori House, in Central and Causeway Bay, known for its fluffy shaved-ice desserts using seasonal ingredients and ice imported from Japan, spring hails the arrival of the wildly popular sakura kakigori.
“This year, we combined two flavours, sakura syrup and vanilla syrup,” says founder Shingo Take. “It’s a more milky and mild flavour combination. We produce daily home-made sakura syrup, which is mixed with concentrated sakura sauce and preserved salted sakura leaves.”
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The dessert’s pièce de résistance is a cap of freshly whipped cream and edible preserved sakura flowers.
Over at Nina Patisserie, in Tsuen Wan, and sister venue I-O-N, a range of sakura desserts and pastries – as well as a sakura-themed afternoon tea – will be available until the end of April.
The highlight is the pink sakura chiffon cake, which combines chewy mochi with fresh strawberries and the fragrance of sakura blossoms.
Asuka Matsubara, who dreams up all of the highly seasonal pastries and cakes at her Central patisserie, Kiyoka, was inspired by the romance of cherry blossoms when creating her limited-edition sakura roll cake and sakura macarons.
“Even if you have never tasted cherry blossom flavour, you will easily fall in love with it,” says Matsubara, who was born and raised in Kyoto. “Sakura doesn’t come with a strong aroma compared to other flowers commonly used in baking, such as rose or chrysanthemum.
“Sakura’s flavour comes with acidity and sweetness at the same time, and we need to use salt when baking sakura desserts to express the lightness of spring.”
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Matsubara’s pastel-pink roll cake amps up the sakura flavour threefold by incorporating ground dried sakura into the cake dough, as well as into the fluffy cream filling and via the garnish of five perfect salted sakura blossoms (set into the centre of five plump dots of whipped cream arranged to look like petals).
“It’s all about finding the right partner for sakura,” the pastry chef says. “The proportion of raspberry we use in the sakura macaron is very precise, in order not to overpower the floral flavour of the sakura.”
Her sakura macarons make use of the other lesser known ingredient of preserved sakura leaves, which tend to have a more grassy flavour, that are chopped up and mixed into the raspberry filling.
Much like the cherry blossoms themselves, these creations are available for a very limited time – a good reminder that we should treat ourselves whenever we can.
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