Sakura daifuku / soft rice cake with cherry blossom bean paste

A seasonal variation of daifuku, a soft rice cake with sweet azuki bean paste inside. While sakura-an -- cherry blossom bean paste -- is usually made with shiroan, salted cherry leaves and red colorant, I mixed in sakura no hana no shiozuke salted cherry blossoms and beet water to shiroan white bean paste to create a softly salty, aromatic filling in sakura-iro pale pink.

104 calories (one cake, 1/4 of recipe); 2.1 g protein; 0.1 g fat; 26.0 g carbohydrate; 24.5 g net carbs; 5 mg sodium; 0 mg cholesterol; 1.5 g fiber

Sakura shiokoji gohan / steamed rice with salted cherry blossoms (salted rice malt version)

Sakura shiokoji -- made with the salt used to pickle cherry blossoms -- instantly transforms regular salty-sweet sakura gohan into a sodium-savvy dish with a more subtly salty and milder taste.

1/3 of recipe:
188 calories; 3.1 g protein; 0.5 g fat; 39.8 g carbohydrate; 39.5 g net carbs; 56 mg sodium (when using sakura shiokoji made of kosher salt; excluding pickled cherry blossoms); 0 mg cholesterol; 0.3 g fiber

1/2 of recipe:
282 calories; 4.7 g protein; 0.7 g fat; 59.7 g carbohydrate; 59.3 g net carbs; 84 mg sodium (when using sakura shiokoji made of kosher salt; excluding pickled cherry blossoms); 0 mg cholesterol; 0.4 g fiber

Sakura gohan / steamed rice with salted cherry blossoms

Enjoy the soft, tangy taste and aroma of salted cherry blossoms as a harbinger of a warm, bright spring.