Sakura is the Japanese word for cherry blossom, and for the flowering cherry trees that carry it. Each spring these trees turn parks, riverbanks and temple gardens across Japan white and pink for a week or two, and the short season is one of the most celebrated moments of the Japanese year.
Sakura is also an ingredient. Japanese cooks have used cherry blossoms and leaves in teas, sweets and breads for a long time, and sakura powder now brings that soft pink colour and floral taste to lattes, cakes and gelato well beyond Japan. This guide explains what sakura is, what makes it pink and how it is used in food.
Sakura Means Cherry Blossom
In Japanese, sakura can mean the tree, the flower or both. In English the word has come to mean the blossom and the food and drinks flavoured with it: a sakura latte, a sakura sponge, a sakura mochi.
The trees are flowering cherries from the Prunus genus, which also includes plums, apricots, peaches and almonds. Many species and garden varieties are called sakura in Japan. The botanical name given for our sakura powder is Prunus serrulata.
Prunus serrulata, the Japanese Flowering Cherry
Prunus serrulata is a deciduous tree native to Japan, Korea and China. In English it is usually called the Japanese flowering cherry or East Asian cherry. The species name refers to the finely toothed, saw-like edges of its leaves.
Japanese gardeners have selected and named a great many garden cherries from this species and its close relatives. Some have simple flowers with five petals. Others, called yaezakura, have double flowers packed with layered petals, almost like small roses. The colours run from pure white through pale blush to a deep, clear pink.
One point surprises many people: flowering cherries are grown for their blossom, not for fruit. The cherries sold at the market come from other species, mainly the sweet cherry and the sour cherry. Sakura is a flower ingredient, and it tastes like one.
Why Is Sakura Pink?
The pink of cherry blossom petals comes from anthocyanins, a family of natural plant pigments that also colour many red and purple flowers, fruits and vegetables. The amount of pigment varies with the variety and the growing conditions, which is why some blossoms are almost white and others a strong pink.
In food, sakura powder gives a natural soft pink: a pastel shade rather than a bright, saturated one. Like other natural plant colours, it responds to heat, light, air and acidity. It shows best in drinks, creams, frostings and frozen desserts, and gentle bakes keep more of the pink than long, hot ones.
Sakura in Japanese Food
Cherry blossom has long had a place in Japanese cooking, particularly in spring. The traditional forms are salt-pickled. Blossoms, usually from double-flowered varieties, and young cherry leaves are packed in salt and plum vinegar, which keeps them well beyond the short flowering season and gives them a salty, floral taste.
Several classic preparations come from these pickled blossoms and leaves:
- Sakurayu, a cherry blossom tea made by pouring hot water over a salted blossom so that it opens in the cup, often served at weddings and other celebrations.
- Sakura mochi, a pink rice cake filled with sweet red bean paste and wrapped in a pickled cherry leaf, eaten in spring.
- Sweet bean buns topped with a single salted blossom, a long-standing favourite in Japanese bakeries.
- Wagashi, traditional Japanese confections shaped and coloured to reflect the blossom season.
Japanese cafés, bakeries and ice cream shops also bring out seasonal sakura drinks and desserts each spring, and those menus have done much to make sakura known abroad.
What Is Sakura Powder?
Fresh blossoms last only days, and pickled ones are salty. Sakura powder solves both problems for kitchens outside Japan. The blossoms are carefully dried and finely milled, giving a dry ingredient that can be weighed, stored and mixed like any other powder.
The bulk sakura powder we supply is a single ingredient: sakura cherry blossom (Prunus serrulata), with nothing added. Its colour is a natural soft pink, and its taste is delicate and floral, lightly sweet and subtly fruity.
Not every product sold as sakura powder is pure blossom. Latte mixes and dessert powders may also contain sugar, milk powder, flavourings or colours. They have their uses, but they behave differently in a recipe, so it is worth reading the ingredient list before you buy.
What Does Sakura Taste Like?
Sakura is gentle. Expect a soft floral aroma, a light sweetness and a faint fruity note, not the taste of ripe cherries. It is lighter and less perfumed than rose, and strong flavours such as dark chocolate or espresso cover it easily, while milk, cream, white chocolate, vanilla and almond let it come through. Our guide to what sakura tastes like covers flavour and pairings in more detail.
A Symbol of Spring
Few ingredients carry so much meaning. In Japan, cherry blossom marks the arrival of spring, and hanami, the custom of gathering under the flowering trees to eat, drink and enjoy the blossoms, goes back centuries. Because the petals fall so quickly, the blossom has long stood for beauty and for how briefly things last.
That meaning travels well. On a café board or a bakery counter, sakura signals spring at a glance, and a seasonal sakura menu gives regular customers something to look forward to each year.
How Sakura Powder Is Used Today
- hot and iced sakura lattes made with dairy or plant-based milk
- sakura milk tea and bubble tea
- sponges, roll cakes, madeleines and cookies
- buttercream, whipped cream, mousses and fillings
- ice cream, gelato and soft-serve
- white chocolate, confectionery and mochi
Bakeries will find dosage and heat advice in our guide to baking with sakura powder.
Buying Sakura Powder
Cafés, bakeries, gelato makers and food manufacturers can request a quote, documents or a sample for Bulk Sakura Powder 25kg, supplied in 25 kg drums and stocked and shipped from Sweden. Home cooks will find methods and amounts in our complete guide to using sakura powder.
