10 Foods And How They’re Modified To Pay Homage To Sakura Season
The Sakura season is one of the best periods to be in Japan. The Sakura is the Japanese term for cherry blossoms which happen to flower as the spring season approaches. The period is accompanied by the most beautiful sceneries and most genuinely, genuine modifications to food and drinks served about the country to honor the season.
Numerous food companies commemorate the beautiful season by making their products pink, the signature color of the cherry blossoms. Some of them include Starbucks, McDonald's and many more others as listed below. The products are rarely the taste of cherry blossoms, but the colors vividly pays homage to the season.
Starbucks
Photo credit: Starbucks.com
Starbucks Japan keeps customers looking forward to every season change with themed Frappuccinos exclusively created for each season. For sakura season, they launched the Sakura Blooming Berry Frappuccino, an upgrade to their previously released floral and fluffy Sakura Fuwari Berry FrappuccinoThe milk-based Frappuccino is a delightful mix of sakura strawberry sauce, as well as a velvety sweet and sour raspberry panna cotta.
Sakura KitKat
Yes, even KitKat celebrates sakura season. The flavored chocolate bars come in numerous varieties: there is no party or anniversary that does not have its version. In spring, we find a variety of Sakura-flavored KitKats with themed packaging.
Sakura Beer
Photo credit: All About Japan
There are various beer companies that pay homage to sakura. The original one is produced by the Japanese brewery Sankt Gallen and most uniquely, the formulation contains cherry blossoms. Other breweries typically make limited edition packaging and designs with pink cherry blossoms and celebratory designs.
Pocky
Pocky are long cookie sticks coated with chocolate. During sakura season, the coating changes to a chocolate flavored with cherry blossoms, with a pale pink shade.
Oreo Sakura Matcha
Photo Credit: yangmei.foodie_homecafe.17
Even Oreo joins the celebratory mood by reintroducing their limited edition Sakura Matcha Flavor biscuits.
Sake
During the Sakura season, the Kitaoka distillery, based in Nara, produces a sake that contains a blossoming sakura flower inside. Definitely a collector's item.
Lipton
Photo credit: candy_meow_ua
The Sakura Tea Latte Lipton is another seasonal drink made with black tea with milk and sakura aroma. It is best enjoyed cold and has gorgeous cherry blossoms imprinted into its pink package.
Calbee Sakura Prawn Crackers
Calbee crackers are popular in Japan and have been around since 1964. They are originally made of shrimp and potatoes and have the characteristic shape of a stick. But during the flowering season, the crackers are garnished with sakura petals, giving the snack a delicious sweet-salty flavor.
Mintia Sakura
Photo Credit: tweetification
Mintia are Japan's most famous pocket mints. The limited edition version could not be missing where the pink of cherry blossoms and the blue of the logo of the famous Japanese brand dominate.
McDonald's
Another amazing change observed in the food industry during the Sakura season are the Sakura Hamburgers. Pastrami is added to the Teritama sandwich, a great classic in Japan, so that a deep pink cherry blossom petal appears between the slices. The famous fast food chain even serves Japanese white peach drink whose pink color is perfectly befitting of the occasion.
