It's such a shame when something is so pretty and promising and falls short. I know I am in the minority in this, but a lot of very pretty macarons fall into that category for me.

Googling tells me that sakura is made from infused cherry blossoms and leaves as Japanese cherry trees are often the flowering, non-fruiting kind. It apparently is meant to taste "floral".

We used to have some "floral" flavoured sweets here which were really horrid.

Thanks, Colleen! I guess it really was made with the real thing even if the real thing tastes like Play-Doh did when I was small and kids would dare each other to eat it. I hope it's equally edible now--the Play-Doh that is--salty flour and safe. Not a bad taste for modelling compound. Not great for ice cream bonbons. :)

You remind me, though, of the gum they had at the canteen at camp one year. It was really loose and hard to chew, no sugar, and came in four flavors: Hot, cool, sour and sweet. That's cinnamon, mint, lemon-lime and ... violets? It was the weirdest tasting stuff ever. Definitely floral, but definitely not real violets considering the price of Joie. :)

Apparently they also salt-pickle the blossoms so I guess that accounts for the saltiness.

If Google and the Japanese articles it linked to are to believed :-) "Sakura" is a much looked forward to seasonal flavour and there are all kinds of fancy cakes and desserts made with both the blossomy and the salty flavour (many with both). I chalk it up to being one of those cultural things I'll never understand :-)

They probably don't have Play-Doh in Japan. :)

I'm fine with Middle Eastern rosewater delicacies, though a lot of people find them revolting. The one I don't like is the "tea", which is just hot water with rosewater. It's like why are you polluting my water? But the cakes are nice and there's a sticky thing with almonds that's amazing. I went to look it up and up popped a Wikipedia article. I'm sure I've had the inauthentic, corn syrup variety. I hope. :)

A lot of natural things taste vile.... here there are very famous sweets made from pine sap - taste like loo cleaner!

ROTFLOL!

here there are very famous sweets made from pine sap

Well, there's spruce gum in the US, too, although I wouldn't characterize it as sweet, exactly.

No. I think you'd call sweets candy.

Thanks, Islay. I just meant that pine taste is a very big regional thing here, too.

This year for the very first time I made jelly from wild rosa ragosa petals. These are the wild roses that grow on the beaches of New England. The jelly is beautiful and tastes like roses. I was pleasantly surprised how good it tastes.

MJ