Edible Leeds - Wild Food Foraging Courses and 4 Wild Seasons Pop Up Dining Events

They look stunning against the blue spring sky & their aesthetic beauty is only part of their magic, for sakura blossoms hide a tasty secret... The season is short, maybe a couple of weeks and, as is the case with certain other wild edibles, blink and you miss it. The stage at which to gather is prior to the full blooming of the blossoms, when they are in their 'waking' phase (not as pictured on the right, these are too advanced for salt preserving but are perfect for making cherry blossom syrup, more on that later. I prefer to pick the awakening buds (as with fully opened blossoms), on a warm, dry, sunny afternoon when the buds and blossoms have been gently warmed by the suns rays. Once gathered it's imperative you get them home and process them as quick as possible - no accidentally leaving them out on the kitchen work top in your basket! The Cherry Blossom, along with, Crysanthemum is the national flower of Japan and preserving the blossoms is an ancient, cult...