Sakura cheese

Sakura cheese Sakura Chīzu (桜チーズ, literally "Sakura (Cherry Blossom) Cheese")) is a soft cheese created in Hokkaidō, Japan. This cheese is a creamy white, and is flavoured with mountain cherry leaves, and accented with pickled cherry blossom flowers; 'Sakura' means "cherry blossom" in Japanese, and is recognized as a symbol of Japan and Japanese culture.

It is the first widely acclaimed Japanese cheese, as the vast majority of cheeses in general were a European/Mediterranean phenomenon, until it spread out to the rest of the world during the days of European exploration. It has the rare distinction of winning a "gold medal" at the Mountain Cheese Olympics in Appenzell, Switzerland, which normally favors Swiss, Italian, or French cheeses almost exclusively for awards. The medal was in the "soft cheese" category.

See also

• Sakuramochi
• Sakurayu