Sakura Onigiri / Cherry Blossom Rice Balls 桜おにぎり

日本語のレシピは　ビーガン、ベジタリアン情報満載の　Hachidory から　ご覧下さい。

The most beautiful season is here again!

The season of the pink and the yellow.

 

What is the pink for ?

It is for peach blossoms blooming on the trees.

 

What about the yellow ?

It is for the rape flowers blooming all over the field.

 

When they are blooming together in the same spot, the scene is astonishing.

 

The contrast of the pink and the yellow is so mesmerizing.

 

I feel like as if I came to Shagri-La whenever I see them blooming together.

Sakura, the cherry blossoms which represents the spring of Japan are also blooming.

They will be blooming next ten days or so.

There are many spots that I can enjoy sakura blossoms in my town.

The park near my home is surrounded by pink of sakura trees, and so is the lake towards the mountain.

So I have an urge to share the beauty of Japanese spring with you by introducing one of my recipes of sakura blossoms today.

In fact, sakura has many species and the most popular one which you may have seen somewhere in Japan before or in the movies is called “Someiyoshino”.

Someiyoshino

However the one we often use for cooking is not “Someiyoshino”.  “Yaezakura” which has the layers of petals are normally used.  The blossoms are marinated in the salt and preserved for future use. 

Yaezakura

 

Someiyoshino which is most popular and the predominant species among all the cherry blossoms has only five petals, so it is too thin and easily loses its shape and color when mixed with the salt.  But Yezakura can retain its shape and color even it is mixed with the salt.

Yaezakura starts blooming when Someiyoshino have fallen from the tress.  So it means that I can still enjoy sakura next two to three weeks.   But Yaezakura is not as popular as Someiyoshino, and cannot been found so easily.

I have a neighbor who has many of the all the spring flowers and plants including peach blossoms, rape flowers and the both types of sakura.  (Those pictures of peach blossoms and rape flowers above were taken at her property.)  So I visit her big garden during this season and enjoy the beautiful scenery of the spring, and also pick the blossoms of Yaezakura.  She even let me dig and pick the wild vegetables from there. 

I am using those homemade sakura preserves for today’s recipe, “Sakura Onigiri/ rice balls”.  But you can easily purchase the readymade preserved cherry blossoms online.

Try this easy recipe and feel and taste the spring of Japan !

 

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