”Salted Sakura cherry blossoms are very common in Japan often enjoyed in tea, at special events in desserts and pickling. If you want to do this for yourself you’ll need to do it next year as you want the blossoms before they open up too much although I wasn’t that picky. Luckily the place I’m renting has a large ornamental Cherry Tree (Prunus serrulata - double-flowered cherry blossoms).
GeorgeFlavour Fred
I picked salted and allowed to sit in the salt for 3 days in a cool dark place (some put in the fridge) after which I strained it and kept the floral brine for other uses. Then I washed off the flowers before drying them at a low temperature. I decided to keep most in this way to use at a later date but a small portion I wanted to infuse with the Umezu left over from Umeboshi making last year with Rebecca @the.ferm.london. I couldn’t stop thinking about the many alliterations with P and then Prunus, preservation, preparation and plonk got thrown in the mix. A similar story with Flavour Fred even though my name is George.
Umezu translates to plum vinegar & the liquid was derived from a day out with Rebecca where we made a small amount using damson (& sea buckthorn). They are amazing and the liquid is also incredible. So I’ve infused some of the salted cherry blossoms into this liquid and will dry them and use the liquid for many layers of prunus flavours on events and probably in rice dishes.
A little bit of a test if I’m honest not something I’ve done before but undoubtably I will do a lot more next year especially with the large plum tree I have in my garden here too.
