Ask The Brewmasters

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Does anyone have any experience incorporating cherry blossom petals into a beer (rice lager). Not sure when to introduce the petals, at flameout, cold, during whirlpool? not sure. Any recommendations or advice would be greatly appreciated. 

This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous

For the sake of food safety - 

Please ensure that cherry blossom petals are an approved food additive under whichever jurisdiction/regulations you reside under. Parts of cherry trees when raw have cyanide. If approved, make sure you are determining the risk level and preparing it appropriately to remove that potential risk to your consumers. 

Assuming cherry blossoms are safe, I doubt you will get any aroma from these if you add them hot side. If you are packaging this into cans and don't have pasteurization then I would use a lower temp like 160F as the whirlpool temp. If you are only serving this in your taproom, I would float the petals on the beer at time of serving. We did that once with aromatic flower petals. It was one of the greatest garnishes ever. Of course having a continuous supply of cherry petals for a couple weeks is a challenge. Good luck!

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Paul Oettinger
Head of Manufacturing & QA
Pals Brewing Company
North Platte NE
(308) 221-6715
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Paul Kapopo
Brewing & Quality Trainer
BRALIMA / HEINEKEN
KINSHASA
+243998943281
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"In Japan, cherry blossoms are often used as a garnish or ingredient in traditional dishes such as sakura mochi (sweet rice cake wrapped in a cherry blossom leaf) and sakura tea (tea made with cherry blossom petals).

However, it is important to note that not all cherry blossoms are edible. Some varieties may be toxic and should not be consumed."

that being said, do your homework,  reach out to foraging breweries/restaurants/herbalists/foragers,  study up on which ones you can use and start small before ramping up.  also of note, the surest way to get on the FDA's radar is by mentioning this beer on any social media or advertisements.  if it doesn't make any of the FDA's lists of what is safe to consume (no matter how many decades/centuries of herbal lore/use there may be), the FDA will be contacting you.  i know from experience.

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Gino Guerrero
Barrel Program Wrangler
Beerburg Brewing
Austin TX
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This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous

Greetings,

I have had positive success trialing a rice lager with Sakura powder in the WP and boosted with a slight extract addition in the BT. A well known additive to many Japanese drinks and treats Sakura powder is readily available. For my size (approx. 4 bbl post boil) I used 8 oz of powder in the WP followed by the Amoretti WS extract. 

As others suggested it may not be on the TTB safe to use list, thus doing research there may be also helpful.

Hope this is insightful. Cheers!