Ume sweets prove there’s more to seasonal desserts than just sakura.

No sooner does the midwinter chill begin to fade than Japan starts looking forward to the spring sakura season, and sakura dessert season too. But before the cherry blossoms arrive there’s another beautiful flower that’ll be blooming across the country, and it’s getting a sweet treat of its own.

February is when Japan’s ume (plum) trees start to blossom, and in anticipation of the annual event Nestle Japan is now selling a special ume-flavor KitKat.

To clarify, these are not to be confused with the umeshu (plum wine) KitKats from a few years back. Ume’s taste is somewhere between that of a western plum and apricot, with a complex mixture of sweet and tangy notes. The ume KitKats incorporate the flavor both inside and out, with an ume chocolate coating and ume powder cream interspaced with the cookie wafers.

The ume KitKats are on sale now, and can even be purchased online through Rakuten here for 324 yen (US$3.15) for a 13-piece pack. They’ll only be available for a limited time, one which isn’t likely to be very long given ume’s brief moment in the spotlight before the sakura become the center of attention, but if you want proof that plum blossoms can be just as beautiful as their more famous cherry counterparts, these breathtaking photos should do the trick.

Source, featured image: Twitter/@KITKATJapan
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