Uncover the truth about cherry blossoms: can you eat them? Delve into the culinary world of sakura, exploring its edible delights and potential risks.
Cherry blossoms, also known as sakura in Japanese, are famous for their beauty and symbolic significance in many cultures.
Cherry blossoms are edible and have been used in various culinary traditions in Japan and other parts of the world.
In Japan, cherry blossoms are often used as a garnish or ingredient in traditional dishes such as sakura mochi (sweet rice cake wrapped in a cherry blossom leaf) and sakura tea (tea made with cherry blossom petals).
However, it is important to note that not all cherry blossoms are edible. Some varieties may be toxic and should not be consumed.
Additionally, it is important to only consume cherry blossoms that have not been treated with pesticides or other chemicals, as these may be harmful to ingest.
Can You Eat Cherry Blossoms?
Cherry blossoms are edible are used to prepare a wide variety of Japanese dishes, including meals, desserts, teas, etc. Their sweet, floral aroma makes them an ideal food additive.
Apart from eating them as food, you can also consume cherry blossoms for their medicinal value.
They are considered floral herbs in Japanese culture and many other countries around the world as well.
Well, by this time, we were talking about the blossoms of the cherry tree, now a question may arise in your head.
Can we eat cherry blossoms fruit?
Yes, you can eat cherry blossom fruit, but it's not typically eaten raw. The fruit is small, sour, and has a slightly bitter taste. It is often used in jams, jellies, and liqueurs.
Cherry blossom fruit is also pickled and used as a garnish. It is a good source of vitamins and minerals, including vitamin C, potassium, and iron.
Most of the cherries grown in the wild are safe to eat, but I still suggest you be extremely cautious unless you are sure about the safety.
However, its fruits taste sour if they are from an ornamental cherry tree instead of a sweet cherry tree grown for agricultural purposes.
On the other hand, weeping or ornamental cherry trees are mainly bred for their lovely blossoms. These trees produce fruits, but they are too sour for humans to eat.
A weeping cherry tree is a variety of ornamental cherry trees that develops pendulous weeping branches with clusters of white or pink flowers.
Are Cherry Blossoms Poisonous To Dogs and Cats?
Cherry blossoms, popularly known as sakura in Japan, are poisonous to dogs and cats.
If your pet cat or dog somehow ends up eating its stems, leaves, and thorns, it has been proved to be toxic for them. It will cause them indigestion.
Now that we know that cherry blossoms are not poisonous to human health, then can we eat them?
Well, find your answer below.
What do cherry blossoms taste like?
Cherry blossoms or sakura taste sweet and flowery. Even though it has the word ‘cherry’ in its name, it doesn’t have any of the flavor profiles of cherries. Cherry blossoms have a more earthy taste. When pickled, the flavor of cherry blossoms deepens.
You’ll also find a sweet version of pickled Sakura. The flowers of sakura have a vanilla-like scent because of the Coumarin content in it. This chemical can be toxic if consumed in large quantities.
For Sakura tea, add salt and plum vinegar preserved sakura to hot water. This will accentuate all its flavors - some sweetness, bitterness, sour, salty, and flowery flavors.
Are white cherry blossoms edible?
White cherry blossoms are edible. White cherry blossoms can be consumed safely, including flower petals, leaves, and cherry blossoms. It’s used in several Japanese teas, desserts, cookies, and candies.
You can even add them in cocktails. If you’re eating cherry blossoms raw then it’s advisable that you only have it in small quantities as it can be toxic if consumed in large quantities. When chewed, leaves, cherry flowers, bark, and twigs release cyanide which is toxic.
Can you eat weeping cherry blossoms?
Weeping Cherry blossoms are meant for showy purposes, basically they’re ornamental and bred for the same reason. With glossy leaves, ingesting weeping cherry blossoms may cause poisoning.
How Are Cherry Blossoms Eaten?
You will get cherry blossom flowers or leaves in the supermarkets of Japan in the season.
Oshima cherry blossom is the preferred variety for cooking as they are soft enough.
There are various ways to consume cherry blossom. You can take it just by mixing it into the regular food or drink.
Check out this video to see how you can infuse cherry blossom into food:
Nutritional Benefits To Cherry Blossoms
Cherry blossom increases the immunity inside your body. Besides, It also helps in reducing blood pressure and cholesterols.
And if you consume cherry blossom, you can avoid diabetes.
The sweet scent of sakura prevents insomnia and even helps to relieve stress.
This is not the end. Besides health benefits, it is also helpful in retaining your beauty.
Cherry blossom is full of antioxidants that fight the dirt and pollutants, which are responsible for the sign of aging.
So, it can repair damaged skin and hyperpigmentation.
Moreover, many cosmetic creams use the sakura flower extract due to its anti-inflammatory and skin-soothing properties.
Apart from these, you can use a sakura bath bomb, which is popular for its unique smell.
On top of that, these flowers are high in fatty acids. You can use its paste directly or by mixing it into a topical solution to moisturize your skin.
It also works well against dark spots and scarring.
Some cherry blossom products are so rare that they are only available when the cherry trees bloom in Japan.
How Is Cherry Blossoms Used In Japanese Cuisine
While you can eat most of the cherry blossoms, there are some that have a poisonous and harmful effects.
The cherry blossom species named Prunus lauraceous is not edible. Besides, the species of Prunus serrulata cause indigestion in the human body. And the result is deadly when consumed by dogs or cats.
However, the Yoshino cherry trees or sakura that are commonly found everywhere in Japan are edible.
Its pink petals are so alluring that some people want to eat them. And that's the reason why the petals of sakura blossoms are added to different dessert items.
Anyway, I want to let you know that as long as you are buying cherry blossoms from a reliable food distributor or grocery store, you won't face any problems.
Suppose you have bought cherry blossoms. Now how will you eat them?
Sakura Mochi
Mochi is a Japanese rice cake that is actually nothing more than sticky rice. It is prepared by crushing the rice in a giant mallet. If you add some Sakura petals with it, it will be sakura mochi.
For aesthetic purposes, sakura mochi is often wrapped with sakura leaf, which is also edible, as I said earlier.
Sakura Daifuku
You can simply make sakura daifuku by stuffing sweet azuki bean paste in Sakura mochi.
Sakura Wagashi
Wagashi is a generic term that is used to describe traditional Japanese desserts.
When making wagashi, we always prioritize the seasonal theme. And that's why sakura wagashi are served at restaurants, tea houses, and temples in spring.
Sakura Tea
Sakura tea or cherry blossom tea is made by dipping pickled cherry blossoms with boiled water.
You can also prepare it using dried sakura leaves with Japanese green tea sencha.
You may think that this tea tastes so good, but actually, it tastes salty and sour with an after-taste of apricot and almond.
Then why do Japanese people want to consume this tea?
Well, we drink sakura tea considering its benefits.
If you don't want to look older so quickly, drink sakura tea. It will slow down aging by preventing lines, wrinkles, and skin dullness.
Sakurayu
Dip some sakura petals in hot water and drink it. This combination becomes a type of herbal tea.
It is the most hassle-free way to consume sakura apart from eating them directly.
Besides Japan, this sakurayu is enjoyed in many East Asian countries for many generations.
Hanami Dango
Hanami dango is a dessert where a stick is inserted into three Japanese rice dumplings of different flavors.One is sakura favored, one is unflavored, and the rest is flavored with matcha or yomogi.
The three dumplings are pink, white and green in color, where the pink and white dumplings are made of sweetened rice flour, and the green one is mixed with yomogi grass.
Hanami dango tastes like a sweet chewy sticky rice ball.
Sakura Kuzumochi
It is one type of mochi made with starch from a Japanese kudzu plant. Kuzumochi has very little flavor on its own.
So, we add sakura with it to enjoy another flavor in spring. This two are a great match for that.
Sakura Macarons
You might think that how come a western dessert gets mixed up with Japanese sakura.
Yes, we always love to add seasonal flavor to our foods, and sakura macarons are the result of that.
Cherry Blossom Syrup
You can also make syrup from cherry blossoms and then use it to prepare some other dishes like rice pancakes.
The cherry blossom syrup recipe is so simple.
Take a heatproof bowl and place the blossoms in it. Pour boiling water and cover it for 2 to 4 hours. Strain the liquid off the cherry blossoms. Then put some brown sugar on a pan and mix the juice into it.
Heat it at a low temperature and keep stirring until it dissolves. Store it in a sterilized jar. Now, your syrup is ready to be used with food.
Well, these are the possible ways of eating cherry blossoms. However, when we take food, we always consider its nutritional values.
Then what about the cherry blossom? Does it have any advantages?
If you are still curious about some other facts, such as sakura cherry blossom wagyu, I am here to answer all these questions.
Maybe you have come across this term and now wondering about Sakura Wagyu Farms.
What Is Sakura Cherry Blossom Wagyu?
Actually, it is just the name of the farm, named to show respect to the famous wagyu beef, which is considered Japanese heritage. And the beef itself is not infused with any cherry blossom.
