Katokaen, a flower farm in the suburbs of Tokyo, has built a thriving business by producing blooms that are not only pretty but are also enriching the culinary arts with colorful petals as crisp as lettuce or as sweet and sour as berries.
Run by a couple and their daughter, the farm in Isehara, Kanagawa Prefecture, produces around 40 kinds of flowers in late autumn and early winter, including cyclamens, pansies and snapdragons, all edible and mostly chemical-free.
The photogenic flowers find their way into high-end restaurants and enthusiasts' homes, where cooks have devised a myriad of unique recipes that have been posted to Instagram and other social media, boosting the farm's visibility.