In my garden, Lilac flowers have gone and the marvellous scent of Mock Orange (Philadelphus) flowers is filling up the atmosphere instead now. I know Sakura, Cherry blossom, season is over and I have to admit that I made this sweet a few weeks ago but did not have a chance to post here.

Sakura Mochi

It is a ‘Mochi’ type sweet with a hint or two of Sakura Cherry Blossom essence.

So what is the Sakura essence that I added to this sweet?

It might be a little difficult to see in the first photo and you might be wondering what the pattern on the white Mochi is. So here is the image of the sweet in close-up.

It is real Cherry blossom which is sandwiched between two sheets of soft plain Mochi. Actually I picked the flowers and preserved in salt myself.

The centre of the sweet is ‘Sakura-An’ which is ‘Shiro-An’ (Sweet White Beans paste) base mixed in with salted Cherry leaves powder.

The tiny dark dots you can see in this photo is Cherry leaves powder. It gives a slight saltiness that contrasts with the sweetness of the Mochi and the bean paste very well. It also provides the scent of Cherry Blossom. It is a flavour of Spring for Japanese people.

It is Free from Gluten, Egg, Dairy and Oil.

It is a great sweet to have at the end of Spring.