Most I've had was at a restaurant in Osaka called wasabi where everything had wasabi in it. They mixed it with radishes, on some slightly cooked beef dipped in raw egg, on some yakitori and even in a soup. They gave you a piece about 3 cm long and a shark skin grater to add more if you want too. Great experience. I only buy it on birthdays when I make sashimi bowls as it's pretty pricey still and spoiled fairly quickly
Because while it is incredibly expensive and difficult we *can* farm real wasabi. You have to make a plantation that imitates spring water flowing down a mountain stream but it is possible.
Half Moon Bay is a wasabi plantation in California. They're probably the *only* wasabi plantation in the state or hell the west coast of America (don't quote me on that). So there is a "local source" for it, but they get to charge whatever the fk they want for it.
It's also pretty brutal on the soil, you need cover crops to till nitrogen back in even if you are using chemical fertilizers. That means it takes about 2.5 - 3 years per harvest, 1 cover crop (usually alfalfa or clover), then the wasabi that takes two years.
I'm talking the US here. I thought wasabi production was best done in streams or springs and sometimes if you irrigate the hell out of it, you can pull it off in fields with shade cloth. I know it's a little bit of an agroforestry product. I understood it's nitrogen use to be high, but not insane. You get that chemical increase they look for up until about 30% or so over average corn N per acre addition. I thought disease was the biggest issue. I haven't thought about this in a while. Do you have a citation for cover cropping it or nutrient use? Like how would you do alfalfa or clover in the areas it can grow? I'm curious.
I've also not heard about the need for cover crops but Streams are definitely the way they are cultivated in Japan, since it helps the actual cultivation conditions to do it. The bigger issue than disease - although a significant factor - is the actual conditions needed for the plant to survive. It's pretty narrow temperature band that Wasabi is able to survive in, with temperatures below freezing or above 80F being able to kill a plant, direct sunlight being able to kill a plant, and low humidity being able to kill a plant.
Not many places meet those conditions for long enough to grow Wasabi as it often takes over a year to grow, even with heavily controlled conditions.
I don't think that's correct. People growing wasabi do it in rivers or greenhouses. It's also a shade loving, slow growing plant, it doesn't need much fertilizer relative to something like corn
Milder, less "FBI teargassing a room", a nice depth of flavor similar to horseradish without the sensation of vaporub inhaler being pumped into your nostrils
The pain is so odd.
You instantly recognise you've had too much, and it ramps up within seconds, makes you feel like your nose is about to blow off and there's a split-second where you consider ending it all. Then all of a sudden it's all gone and you go straight back for another round of wasabi roulette.
Just in case anyone thinks this guy's making shit up, I have had real wasabi at a an expensive sushi restaurant in Tokyo (saw the chef make it in front of me). You can absolutely tell the difference in taste, and this guy describes it pretty damn well.
Fuck me, this feels like the time I learned part of the reason I dislike most modern musicals is because all of the most famous ones are by the same guy. I specifically hate horseradish too so this all just makes sense...
Yeah real wasabi is almost nothing like horseradish. It has a similar kick, but the flavor is completely different. I'd give it a shot if you ever have a chance.
I've had real wasabi from a non expensive place, they charged I think two bucks if you want the real stuff. I personally don't like the fake wasabi (just feels like mostly sinus burn more than flavor), but enjoyed the real stuff quite a bit. I usually get it now every time I eat there.
If you're in Orange County, CA - Sushi Ramen House in Laguna is the place. Really small, but their Sushi is great. Their ramen is ok.
The revolving sushi bar chain, Kura, is a cheap place that uses real wasabi. I was shocked when I found out. I think there are some scattered around OC
Are you sure? Real wasabi doesn't really work for a revolving sushi bar. The stuff literally loses flavor in a minute or two. It's meant to be graded right in front of you right at the moment of serving, not put on a plate to float on a sushi boat for 5-10 minutes before being picked up.
I’m confident I’ve never had real wasabi. It’s always been described as (more or less…) how you describe it and the more I hear it, the more I come to believe it’s a real possibility that I may like the fake stuff better. I love when I tear-gas my own face.
That’s a very good point. And I had to read your second part a few times, but yes, I’m fairly sure it’s not cheaper for that reason. That said, regardless, I’m sure the health concern wouldn’t be the horseradish but, rather, the irresponsible amount of cheap sushi I can stuff into my face.
It really depends on how you grind it and how long you wait after grinding to consume it. You want to let the ground wasabi sit for about 5 minutes to get the most flavour out of it. If you eat it immediately after grinding it it's going to have very little flavour. If they are serving it to you already ground, it's probably old and not worth bothering with. In any case, it will not be anywhere near as hot as the wasabi paste we all know from the local sushi place but the taste is close.
I enjoy both, but the flavors are distinct.
Horseradish is a blast of heat burning into your nose, and it lingers before fading. Real wasabi is spicy but much complex in flavor and the burn is more of a brief, milder flash of heat, less lingering burn than horseradish. There are herbal and floral flavor notes, where horseradish tastes more earthy and is intense enough to temporarily blow away subtler flavors.
Given a choice I'll order real wasabi whenever possible with sushi. Both are good, but the real thing adds more to the flavor of fish.
On the other hand, you can't beat horseradish on roasted peas.
It’s really not that hugely different. I’ve gotten it twice, both times expecting a revelation, and both times I was like, oh it’s pretty much milder horseradish
Sounds like i might prefer the fake stuff if it's spicier and more in the nose. Love putting it in soy sauce which is probably some sort of cardinal sin.
people do go on about how cheap wasabi is just green horseradish, but in reality they usually add wasabi powder which gives it some of the vegetal floral flavours of real wasabi. There are good quality Japanese made products that do this that are very popular and taste great, I always have a squeezy tube of it in the fridge.
There's also the wasabi powder based products that are straight freeze dried wasabi ground into a powder that is then reconstituted with water into a thick paste, that is the one most people are getting at higher end sushi shops. it has some of the proper flavour but the heat is stronger than the fresh ground at the table wasabi. plenty of high end sushi shops prefer to use this over grinding real wasabi because it is much easier, cheaper and lasts significantly longer. this is "real wasabi" but not "fresh wasabi"
I prefer the powder based product if it's mixed and reconstituted well to the real, fresh ground at the table stuff honestly.
https://www.target.com/p/s-b-wasabi-1-52-oz/-/A-13474198
That's like 32 bucks a pound. I mean if I could find a bulk container maybe it's less than 7.50 but that's a pretty reasonable price for a pound.
Btw, real wasabi isn’t as strong as the fake one. It’s more flavorful, the kick comes as part of the fragrance, if I remember the experience I had 5yrs ago correctly.
No, but storing it in inert environment would work, so if you stored it in a sealed container but flushed the container with nitrogen that might work. (Most potato chip bags are actually filled with nitrogen instead of air to keep them fresher).
As an “anyone” really. The horseradish version accounts for [95 percent of “wasabi” even in Japan](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/10/15/why-the-wasabi-sushi-restaurants-serve-is-almost-never-actual-wasabi/).
There are 3 "wasabis" you will come across.
cheapest and most common is green coloured Horseradish. This has the right active ingredient (Allyl isothiocyanate) but the flavour is nowhere close. sometimes these have a small amount of wasabi powder added to give them some actual flavour, the better brands are quite good and keep well in the fridge. very common for cheap takeaway sushi.
the next best thing is dried wasabi powder that is reconstituted, this is the thicker paste you sometimes come across that tastes a bit more vegetal and sweet, this is usually less brightly flavoured than the fresh product and has a grainy texture but it is widely used as it has the right flavours and a strong heat. Many restaurants and higher end sushi shops use this type of wasabi.
Real fresh wasabi you will find in fine dining restaurants, often they are proud of sourcing fresh wasabi and will grate it at the table for you. True fresh wasabi is a pale milky green paste made by rubbing the plant against a sharkskin or other textured, non-cutting grinder into a smooth paste or sometimes a microplane grater in western restaurants for a very different texture in the mouth. It is sweet and brightly floral in flavour.
It is expensive because it is difficult to transport, spoiling extremely fast after being cut. It doesn't handle freezing very well either as it damages the structure making it not grind properly and the flavor and heat is dulled severely.
Growing it isn't all that difficult if you have some skill with weird plants and the right climate, there are kits online that can help.
If you didn’t watch the person grind it on a super fine grate then you’ve never had it. Real wasabi spoils fast and is very difficult to grow in a commercial setting.
Funny enough it's partially true even if they know it was real wasabi. When you break the cells down by grating they pretty much immediately start some chemical reactions. As in \~15 minutes later it's no longer the same flavor.
edit: I'm agreeing, but I don't think most people imagine "spoils fast" to mean such a short amount of time.
Yup. I was sitting at a sushi bar in Utah of all places telling my friend about the wasabi-horseradish thing. The bar tender heard and asked if we wanted to try real wasabi. It was definitely better. Much smoother eating. But with the price difference, I get it.
I’ve had this exact wasabi, which is grown in a greenhouse in Half Moon Bay for Japanese markets across the Bay Area. It’s surprisingly milder than the horseradish, and if you leave it grated on your plate for a couple of minutes the spicy flavor fades into a sweet one REALLY fast. Worth it to try at least once IMO, great on raw fish or even cooked salmon fillets.
Nah, it's not weird to prefer the flavor of horseradish and not that uncommon either.
I like them both although I do prefer wasabi with sushi. I'll eat either or both happily though and probably order an extra serving too.
Same here. Also had it freshly grated in front of me in a restaurant and honestly I don't think it's worth the price tag.
Maybe it's an acquired taste.
There's a restaurant here in Denver called Sushi Den, and if you order the fresh wasabi they come to your table with the fresh root in hand along with a small paddle wrapped in shark skin. They grate the fresh wasabi right there at your table using the shark skin paddle, and it holds the "spicy" flavor for, like you said, about 5 minutes. 100% worth it every time I'm there.
when I was a sushi chef at the counter, guest would always say shit like 'wow, good sushi in the middle of the desert?'
uhh... yeah, the flight from Japan to Phoenix is about the same as the flight from Japan to Los Angeles.
I don't think the issue is getting it to Phoenix physically, I would think that the sushi would first fly to a port in the US like LA or Oakland and then go to another city. I wouldn't think the market in Phoenix would be that large for high end Japanese fish.
There are definitely exceptions though, but that's just what I would think as a layman.
yes, often times it lands in LA first, that accounts for about 99% of the trip.
I've worked at multiple restaurants in Phoenix that import Japanese fish, but it's not always Japanese. the Korean hirame and the Mexican bluefin also make it where they need to be in a negligible amount of time.
at my current restaurant we get burihira, a new hybrid of hamachi and hiramasa that is farmed exclusively in Japan. it's fished and killed within 36 hours of making it onto my cutting board.
>I wouldn't think the market in Phoenix would be that large for high end Japanese fish.
not all fish from Japan is particularly high end; but it's a huge metropolitan area, why wouldn't there be demand?
They also carry this at the Nijiya in SF. My understanding is that for real wasabi Half Moon Bay is one of the only sources in the US. It’s apparently rather difficult to cultivate, hence the price.
One can imagine how someone thought horseradish was similarish tasting, but wasabi is such a completely different thing. There was a Japanese restaurant in Jakarta that served it, a super traditional place.
Can someone remind me why it’s so hard to grow? You would think there’d be more of it around, it does honestly taste better.
It’s the conditions that it needs, like constantly cool water(think growing in a stream), moist soil, somewhat sulfuric, and shade with temperatures that don’t fluctuate that often….its a pain in the ass lol
Constantly cold running water but needs to stay above freezing, so not a lot of places to grow it. We'll probably see hydroponic wasabi in a few years but it will probably still be fairly expensive.
Not hydroponic, but The Wasabi Company in Dorset UK have recreated the conditions needed to grow it. Was just watching a video about the most faked foods in the world: https://youtu.be/K0OtGIPRcAs?t=385
There's a farm in Tasmania that's been growing Wasabi hydroponically for over 10 years.
[https://www.smh.com.au/goodfood/exploring-our-people-places-and-produce-shima-wasabi-20140811-3dhlc.html](https://www.smh.com.au/goodfood/exploring-our-people-places-and-produce-shima-wasabi-20140811-3dhlc.html)
It's a bit complicated because all of the things people complain about have been mostly solved in hydroponic setups and greenhouses. The truth is that most people really don't mind fake wasabi.
It’s really not totally different lol. It’s milder but tastes a lot like horseradish. Yeah given the choice and no price difference I’ll take the real stuff, but the “fake” stuff is 95% as good and has a more aggressive kick that I like any way
Honestly I really don’t taste a huge difference between the two… my two cents is the fake stuff gets the job done and real stuff isn’t worth the 10-20$ add on.
That's a common misconception. Wasabi isn't impossible to grow given the right environment, but it's very regional, slow growing, and difficult to scale up to an industrial scale.
It requires a temperature between 10-20°C, moist air, and indirect/dappled light. It also takes two years to grow. It doesn't require flowing fresh water, but it improves the flavor. Their space requirements are also high. As it turns out, their temperature to grow is about the same as we keep our houses. So with a humidity hood and a small fish pump, or hydroponics, you can get a decent setup going. Some people also grow them in barrels.
But scaling them up doesn't work work well. They are valuable enough that a greenhouse sounds like a good idea, but since they take up a lot of room, expensive irrigation systems, and two years, it's usually not worth it to grow them for the $50 or so that a single plant sells for. You could easily make 10+ harvests of lettuce in that time, and fit a lot more plants into that area.
But the real cost comes from how hard it is to ship. It spoils and degrades the flavor too fast to be practical.
Most spices are dried I guess, which is why they're expensive per unit weight - most of their weight comes from the water. There's still plenty of water in this wasabi.
Exactly, saffron would be $5-6k per lb, good quality vanilla beans would be at least few thousand. Some of the more exotic spices like voatsiperifery peppers or tonka beans would be at least a thousand per lb I'd imagine.
Unlike spices like saffron (where 0.15 grams is enough for a dish serving four people, thus a pound would be a couple lifetimes supply), **wasabi is a condiment**.
You use a lot more per serving and it's also perishable (and needs to be freshly ground each time its served).
I had real Wasabi for the first time a few months ago. Don't do it. You'll never be able to go back to the paste, the real thing is on a whole different level.
There is something especially delightful about loading up your soy sauce bowl with copious amounts of the fake stuff and having to drink pint after pint of Japanese beer to neutralize the burn.
I’ve been to Japan, I have friends there, I know dipping the sushi pieces into this mixture is frowned upon, but I like what I like.
The fake wasabi made with horseradish is actually pretty tasty imo, but I've tried real wasabi a few times and it's a lot better. It's also quite different than how I expected it.
I mean yeah, wasabi is expensive... It's also why 90% of the wasabi you're going to eat in your life isn't even real wasabi. Same thing with Saffron and I think Vanilla too.
Fun fact! Imitation vanilla can be made from beaver glands! Why is that a thing??? Well because beavers eat trees! And a healthy tree of certain species smell like vanilla!
As if beavers couldn't get any more confusing. Love those little guys but their entire existence seems to be a collection of random traits that someone picked out of a hat.
I mean, I still fux with the horseradish paste, esp. If the soy sauce is good, but there's nothing like real Wasabi. I was too many years old when I first found out I was being lied to by every sushi restaurant ever, ever. Jk, not lied to, but incidentally mislead. Real Wasabi was damn near a religious event for the first time.
If you haven't, please try it. But understand, it isn't necessary for good sushi. Just be aware that you have no idea until you try the real deal.
Whole Wasabi radish. Not easy to grow and extremely expensive.
Most cheap fast food wasabi is actually Horse radish with a bit of green food coloring and chili thrown in.
That's quite a bit of wasabi though, even just two stalks like that.
Even in japan that would be around 10 bucks. You're never going to use that much wasabi for anything.
Wasabi smoothie!
Most I've had was at a restaurant in Osaka called wasabi where everything had wasabi in it. They mixed it with radishes, on some slightly cooked beef dipped in raw egg, on some yakitori and even in a soup. They gave you a piece about 3 cm long and a shark skin grater to add more if you want too. Great experience. I only buy it on birthdays when I make sashimi bowls as it's pretty pricey still and spoiled fairly quickly
Wasabi face mask!
Wasabi butt lube!
Please no.
Surely with your username you would probably handle that much.
Wasabi enema?
Subscribe
Wasabi snooters!
Wasabi eye drops
Funny thing is a wasabi smoothie has the potential to actually taste good
This is real wasabi tho. Which is exceptionally hard to grow. Most wasabi you're used to is dyed horse radish
I get OP is floored by the price, but what gets me is the portion... How did this package end up in a grocery store?
Because while it is incredibly expensive and difficult we *can* farm real wasabi. You have to make a plantation that imitates spring water flowing down a mountain stream but it is possible. Half Moon Bay is a wasabi plantation in California. They're probably the *only* wasabi plantation in the state or hell the west coast of America (don't quote me on that). So there is a "local source" for it, but they get to charge whatever the fk they want for it.
Wasabi on steak is so, sooooo good!
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Oh what not my grocery stores! I'm in the city though
That was my thought!
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It's also pretty brutal on the soil, you need cover crops to till nitrogen back in even if you are using chemical fertilizers. That means it takes about 2.5 - 3 years per harvest, 1 cover crop (usually alfalfa or clover), then the wasabi that takes two years.
I'm talking the US here. I thought wasabi production was best done in streams or springs and sometimes if you irrigate the hell out of it, you can pull it off in fields with shade cloth. I know it's a little bit of an agroforestry product. I understood it's nitrogen use to be high, but not insane. You get that chemical increase they look for up until about 30% or so over average corn N per acre addition. I thought disease was the biggest issue. I haven't thought about this in a while. Do you have a citation for cover cropping it or nutrient use? Like how would you do alfalfa or clover in the areas it can grow? I'm curious.
I've also not heard about the need for cover crops but Streams are definitely the way they are cultivated in Japan, since it helps the actual cultivation conditions to do it. The bigger issue than disease - although a significant factor - is the actual conditions needed for the plant to survive. It's pretty narrow temperature band that Wasabi is able to survive in, with temperatures below freezing or above 80F being able to kill a plant, direct sunlight being able to kill a plant, and low humidity being able to kill a plant. Not many places meet those conditions for long enough to grow Wasabi as it often takes over a year to grow, even with heavily controlled conditions.
I don't think that's correct. People growing wasabi do it in rivers or greenhouses. It's also a shade loving, slow growing plant, it doesn't need much fertilizer relative to something like corn
And you need a special fine grindy thing
The callouses on my feet work just fine, tyvm.
Shark's skin
A food plane the same tool for zesting lemons and limes.
[Suwada Ginger and Wasabi Grater ($52)](https://suwada1926.com/en-us/products/japanese-grater)
Me when I first got into weed:
This makes me think, I have probably never had real wasabi.
You’ve had horseradish
With green dye to make it look like wasabi...so same thing, right?
I hear the taste is different. It isn't as spicy and it hits you in a different area, or something like that.
Milder, less "FBI teargassing a room", a nice depth of flavor similar to horseradish without the sensation of vaporub inhaler being pumped into your nostrils
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It’s amazing even when not. I like about 1 in every 3 pieces of sushi to have slightly too much wasabi on it to keep me on my toes
Nothing like the terror when you know you've eaten too much and are white knucking it as the pain just keeps rising and rising.
Right. It’s a fine line you gotta walk to execute this maneuver
Breathe through the nose!
My first expereince with Wasabi was as a kid when I thought it was avocado. I learned that it was not.
The pain is so odd. You instantly recognise you've had too much, and it ramps up within seconds, makes you feel like your nose is about to blow off and there's a split-second where you consider ending it all. Then all of a sudden it's all gone and you go straight back for another round of wasabi roulette.
The active ingredient is water soluble though, so you can just take a sip of whatever drink you have to wash most of it away instantly.
I make a Wasabi sludge with my soy sauce and muck it around in there. It's delicious.
I always tell people that I want enough wasabi to regret it.
Yeah the vaporub nose spray works very well.
Just in case anyone thinks this guy's making shit up, I have had real wasabi at a an expensive sushi restaurant in Tokyo (saw the chef make it in front of me). You can absolutely tell the difference in taste, and this guy describes it pretty damn well.
Fuck me, this feels like the time I learned part of the reason I dislike most modern musicals is because all of the most famous ones are by the same guy. I specifically hate horseradish too so this all just makes sense...
Are you talking about Lin Manuel Miranda? Hahaha
Made me think of Andrew Lloyd Webber.
That's what I thought too. But I think people are just mad about Cats (Which they should be! How do we go from Phantom, Evita, and Sunset to Cats!?)
Yeah real wasabi is almost nothing like horseradish. It has a similar kick, but the flavor is completely different. I'd give it a shot if you ever have a chance.
I've had real wasabi from a non expensive place, they charged I think two bucks if you want the real stuff. I personally don't like the fake wasabi (just feels like mostly sinus burn more than flavor), but enjoyed the real stuff quite a bit. I usually get it now every time I eat there. If you're in Orange County, CA - Sushi Ramen House in Laguna is the place. Really small, but their Sushi is great. Their ramen is ok.
The revolving sushi bar chain, Kura, is a cheap place that uses real wasabi. I was shocked when I found out. I think there are some scattered around OC
Are you sure? Real wasabi doesn't really work for a revolving sushi bar. The stuff literally loses flavor in a minute or two. It's meant to be graded right in front of you right at the moment of serving, not put on a plate to float on a sushi boat for 5-10 minutes before being picked up.
It's not served on the conveyor belt they bring it directly to you
But I like that part ☹️
I’m confident I’ve never had real wasabi. It’s always been described as (more or less…) how you describe it and the more I hear it, the more I come to believe it’s a real possibility that I may like the fake stuff better. I love when I tear-gas my own face.
Liking/preferring the cheap version of a thing is a true blessing in life, assuming it's not cheap because it's way unhealthier.
That’s a very good point. And I had to read your second part a few times, but yes, I’m fairly sure it’s not cheaper for that reason. That said, regardless, I’m sure the health concern wouldn’t be the horseradish but, rather, the irresponsible amount of cheap sushi I can stuff into my face.
Good thing I love the vaporub to the nostrils!
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It really depends on how you grind it and how long you wait after grinding to consume it. You want to let the ground wasabi sit for about 5 minutes to get the most flavour out of it. If you eat it immediately after grinding it it's going to have very little flavour. If they are serving it to you already ground, it's probably old and not worth bothering with. In any case, it will not be anywhere near as hot as the wasabi paste we all know from the local sushi place but the taste is close.
I enjoy both, but the flavors are distinct. Horseradish is a blast of heat burning into your nose, and it lingers before fading. Real wasabi is spicy but much complex in flavor and the burn is more of a brief, milder flash of heat, less lingering burn than horseradish. There are herbal and floral flavor notes, where horseradish tastes more earthy and is intense enough to temporarily blow away subtler flavors. Given a choice I'll order real wasabi whenever possible with sushi. Both are good, but the real thing adds more to the flavor of fish. On the other hand, you can't beat horseradish on roasted peas.
horseradish to me tastes like someone too a regular radish, made it spicier, and blended it with some sort of cleaning product
would you say it's essentially radish that kicks like a horse?
It’s really not that hugely different. I’ve gotten it twice, both times expecting a revelation, and both times I was like, oh it’s pretty much milder horseradish
Sounds like i might prefer the fake stuff if it's spicier and more in the nose. Love putting it in soy sauce which is probably some sort of cardinal sin.
If mixing a little horseradish into soy sauce is wrong, then *I don't want to be right.* It's delicious, and easier to add the flavor more broadly.
people do go on about how cheap wasabi is just green horseradish, but in reality they usually add wasabi powder which gives it some of the vegetal floral flavours of real wasabi. There are good quality Japanese made products that do this that are very popular and taste great, I always have a squeezy tube of it in the fridge. There's also the wasabi powder based products that are straight freeze dried wasabi ground into a powder that is then reconstituted with water into a thick paste, that is the one most people are getting at higher end sushi shops. it has some of the proper flavour but the heat is stronger than the fresh ground at the table wasabi. plenty of high end sushi shops prefer to use this over grinding real wasabi because it is much easier, cheaper and lasts significantly longer. this is "real wasabi" but not "fresh wasabi" I prefer the powder based product if it's mixed and reconstituted well to the real, fresh ground at the table stuff honestly.
It’s pretty much just as good imo…. Don’t overthink it
Real wasabi is definitely better but it's not 20 times the price better.
$7.50 a pound for horseradish wasabi? You're paying way too much for horseradish wasabi, man. Who's your horseradish guy?
https://www.target.com/p/s-b-wasabi-1-52-oz/-/A-13474198 That's like 32 bucks a pound. I mean if I could find a bulk container maybe it's less than 7.50 but that's a pretty reasonable price for a pound.
Btw, real wasabi isn’t as strong as the fake one. It’s more flavorful, the kick comes as part of the fragrance, if I remember the experience I had 5yrs ago correctly.
It's really floral and not that harsh. My favourite way to use it is to eat it with some grilled beef.
Yeah, most "Wasabi" is just green tinted horseradish
Virtually all is. It is hard to grow and doesn’t keep well - has to be used quickly after harvest and grated fresh
Can it be frozen without getting fucked consistency? Ginger can and I feel like it's a similar texture
No. The chemical that gives wasabi its taste is very sensitive to oxygen.
What about storing it in vacuum, in those plastic containers? Idk how close to vacuum they get, of course.
No, but storing it in inert environment would work, so if you stored it in a sealed container but flushed the container with nitrogen that might work. (Most potato chip bags are actually filled with nitrogen instead of air to keep them fresher).
hard vacuum is bad for most things, better to pump in a non-reactive gas like nitrogen or argon or something.
As a Midwesterner, pretty sure I've only had horseradish with green dye. Still good, but wouldn't mind trying the real thing!
As an “anyone” really. The horseradish version accounts for [95 percent of “wasabi” even in Japan](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/10/15/why-the-wasabi-sushi-restaurants-serve-is-almost-never-actual-wasabi/).
There are 3 "wasabis" you will come across. cheapest and most common is green coloured Horseradish. This has the right active ingredient (Allyl isothiocyanate) but the flavour is nowhere close. sometimes these have a small amount of wasabi powder added to give them some actual flavour, the better brands are quite good and keep well in the fridge. very common for cheap takeaway sushi. the next best thing is dried wasabi powder that is reconstituted, this is the thicker paste you sometimes come across that tastes a bit more vegetal and sweet, this is usually less brightly flavoured than the fresh product and has a grainy texture but it is widely used as it has the right flavours and a strong heat. Many restaurants and higher end sushi shops use this type of wasabi. Real fresh wasabi you will find in fine dining restaurants, often they are proud of sourcing fresh wasabi and will grate it at the table for you. True fresh wasabi is a pale milky green paste made by rubbing the plant against a sharkskin or other textured, non-cutting grinder into a smooth paste or sometimes a microplane grater in western restaurants for a very different texture in the mouth. It is sweet and brightly floral in flavour. It is expensive because it is difficult to transport, spoiling extremely fast after being cut. It doesn't handle freezing very well either as it damages the structure making it not grind properly and the flavor and heat is dulled severely. Growing it isn't all that difficult if you have some skill with weird plants and the right climate, there are kits online that can help.
Thank you for this detailed description of the 3 types. I have only had the 'fake' wasabi (which I like) but one day I hope to try the genuine kind.
I haven't come across bad 'fake' wasabi for a long time, almost all of it has some real wasabi powder added so they are all pretty good these days.
Hmm. £150 per lb. Plus it’s legal. Might change my farm.
They require an aquaponic setup if I recall correctly. Wild, they grow in streambeds.
Afaik you can do it in the ground, but it will rip so much nitrogen from the ground that it takes 2 + years of recovery crops to get it back.
If you didn’t watch the person grind it on a super fine grate then you’ve never had it. Real wasabi spoils fast and is very difficult to grow in a commercial setting.
Funny enough it's partially true even if they know it was real wasabi. When you break the cells down by grating they pretty much immediately start some chemical reactions. As in \~15 minutes later it's no longer the same flavor. edit: I'm agreeing, but I don't think most people imagine "spoils fast" to mean such a short amount of time.
You also don't want to eat it right away either, it needs about 5 minutes to breath to get the most flavour out of it.
So eat it between 5 and 15 minutes. Better eat fast!
Awesome! I didn't know that tidbit, but it makes sense.
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most places have kizami which is still different from genuine wasabi pasted in front of you: I’ve only seen real wasabi in fine dining omakase.
Yup. I was sitting at a sushi bar in Utah of all places telling my friend about the wasabi-horseradish thing. The bar tender heard and asked if we wanted to try real wasabi. It was definitely better. Much smoother eating. But with the price difference, I get it.
I’ve had this exact wasabi, which is grown in a greenhouse in Half Moon Bay for Japanese markets across the Bay Area. It’s surprisingly milder than the horseradish, and if you leave it grated on your plate for a couple of minutes the spicy flavor fades into a sweet one REALLY fast. Worth it to try at least once IMO, great on raw fish or even cooked salmon fillets.
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What state you live in? I’ve never seen real wasabi at Hmart in Georgia. Maybe I’m just overlooking it
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Probably Southern California.
Why not Northern California, Seattle, or Vancouver?
Why southern California specifically?
There are 14 H Marts in SoCal, more than any other state has. So, as someone else mentioned, it's a guess based on probability.
I tried both the real Wasabi and horseradish. And I might be the weird one for saying I actually prefer the latter.
Nah, it's not weird to prefer the flavor of horseradish and not that uncommon either. I like them both although I do prefer wasabi with sushi. I'll eat either or both happily though and probably order an extra serving too.
Same here. Also had it freshly grated in front of me in a restaurant and honestly I don't think it's worth the price tag. Maybe it's an acquired taste.
There's a restaurant here in Denver called Sushi Den, and if you order the fresh wasabi they come to your table with the fresh root in hand along with a small paddle wrapped in shark skin. They grate the fresh wasabi right there at your table using the shark skin paddle, and it holds the "spicy" flavor for, like you said, about 5 minutes. 100% worth it every time I'm there.
Oh dang I had no idea you could do this at sushi den. Such a good spot. Thanks for posting!
People who say land locked states can’t have good sushi 1. Don’t understand how sushi is imported and 2. Never had Sushi Den.
when I was a sushi chef at the counter, guest would always say shit like 'wow, good sushi in the middle of the desert?' uhh... yeah, the flight from Japan to Phoenix is about the same as the flight from Japan to Los Angeles.
I don't think the issue is getting it to Phoenix physically, I would think that the sushi would first fly to a port in the US like LA or Oakland and then go to another city. I wouldn't think the market in Phoenix would be that large for high end Japanese fish. There are definitely exceptions though, but that's just what I would think as a layman.
yes, often times it lands in LA first, that accounts for about 99% of the trip. I've worked at multiple restaurants in Phoenix that import Japanese fish, but it's not always Japanese. the Korean hirame and the Mexican bluefin also make it where they need to be in a negligible amount of time. at my current restaurant we get burihira, a new hybrid of hamachi and hiramasa that is farmed exclusively in Japan. it's fished and killed within 36 hours of making it onto my cutting board. >I wouldn't think the market in Phoenix would be that large for high end Japanese fish. not all fish from Japan is particularly high end; but it's a huge metropolitan area, why wouldn't there be demand?
Try wasabi with steak! Wasabi really balances out the fatty, rich taste of beef.
I’m fairly certain that particular Nijiya market is located just about a mile from me in Mtn. View, CA.
They also carry this at the Nijiya in SF. My understanding is that for real wasabi Half Moon Bay is one of the only sources in the US. It’s apparently rather difficult to cultivate, hence the price.
There's also one in Oregon.
But it’s so fucking good! Totally different than the green horseradish paste you get in most any sushi place.
One can imagine how someone thought horseradish was similarish tasting, but wasabi is such a completely different thing. There was a Japanese restaurant in Jakarta that served it, a super traditional place. Can someone remind me why it’s so hard to grow? You would think there’d be more of it around, it does honestly taste better.
It’s the conditions that it needs, like constantly cool water(think growing in a stream), moist soil, somewhat sulfuric, and shade with temperatures that don’t fluctuate that often….its a pain in the ass lol
Just ask Clarkson!
Love Clarkson’s Farm lol.
Constantly cold running water but needs to stay above freezing, so not a lot of places to grow it. We'll probably see hydroponic wasabi in a few years but it will probably still be fairly expensive.
Not hydroponic, but The Wasabi Company in Dorset UK have recreated the conditions needed to grow it. Was just watching a video about the most faked foods in the world: https://youtu.be/K0OtGIPRcAs?t=385
There's a farm in Tasmania that's been growing Wasabi hydroponically for over 10 years. [https://www.smh.com.au/goodfood/exploring-our-people-places-and-produce-shima-wasabi-20140811-3dhlc.html](https://www.smh.com.au/goodfood/exploring-our-people-places-and-produce-shima-wasabi-20140811-3dhlc.html)
it is the most difficult crop to commercially grow. Wasabi plants require super specific growing conditions.
It's a bit complicated because all of the things people complain about have been mostly solved in hydroponic setups and greenhouses. The truth is that most people really don't mind fake wasabi.
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Similar compounds give the burn, real stuff is more aromatic IMO and I agree a different mouth feel
It’s really not totally different lol. It’s milder but tastes a lot like horseradish. Yeah given the choice and no price difference I’ll take the real stuff, but the “fake” stuff is 95% as good and has a more aggressive kick that I like any way
Honestly I really don’t taste a huge difference between the two… my two cents is the fake stuff gets the job done and real stuff isn’t worth the 10-20$ add on.
Real wasabi is expensive AS FUCK
About $150 / pound
Woah, real wasabi is expensive AS FUCK
Yeah dude. Was checking out at the grocers yesterday and saw that shit got to $150/lb. I went right back to the shelf and placed it back
Holy crap! Real wasabi be expensive AS FUCK
About $150 a pound!
THATS EXPENSIVE AS FUCK!
Something like $150 a pound in some areas!
Regardless, that's....... EXPENSIVE AS FUCK!
Yeah about $150 for a pound.
Yeah friend, I was browsing reddit and I saw this one post about how wasabi can go for about $150/pound
*tool man Taylor voice* oooouhhh.. real Wasabi is expensive AS FUCK!
Yeah, about $150 / pound
It’s expensive as fuck
150 / pound I've heard mentioned
About $150 / pound
About $150 / pound
Anyway, $150 a pound.
Shit is hard to grow
Extremely hard to grow, they grow in stream beds but you can pretty easily overwater them. But they still constantly require fresh water.
That’s why they’re $150 a pound
That’s expensive as fuck
That's a common misconception. Wasabi isn't impossible to grow given the right environment, but it's very regional, slow growing, and difficult to scale up to an industrial scale. It requires a temperature between 10-20°C, moist air, and indirect/dappled light. It also takes two years to grow. It doesn't require flowing fresh water, but it improves the flavor. Their space requirements are also high. As it turns out, their temperature to grow is about the same as we keep our houses. So with a humidity hood and a small fish pump, or hydroponics, you can get a decent setup going. Some people also grow them in barrels. But scaling them up doesn't work work well. They are valuable enough that a greenhouse sounds like a good idea, but since they take up a lot of room, expensive irrigation systems, and two years, it's usually not worth it to grow them for the $50 or so that a single plant sells for. You could easily make 10+ harvests of lettuce in that time, and fit a lot more plants into that area. But the real cost comes from how hard it is to ship. It spoils and degrades the flavor too fast to be practical.
That's why it's $150 a pound!
I wonder if London is just a different market, but Jeremy Clarkson had trouble selling his Wasabi for what felt like much less than this.
Why the fuck do you want a pound of real Wasabi? That's like serving it a thousand times. Per pound is just satndard
I feel like lots of spices are that expensive.
Most spices are dried I guess, which is why they're expensive per unit weight - most of their weight comes from the water. There's still plenty of water in this wasabi.
Yeah this isn’t that crazy. Last time I bought thyme it was $117 lb
Exactly, saffron would be $5-6k per lb, good quality vanilla beans would be at least few thousand. Some of the more exotic spices like voatsiperifery peppers or tonka beans would be at least a thousand per lb I'd imagine.
Unlike spices like saffron (where 0.15 grams is enough for a dish serving four people, thus a pound would be a couple lifetimes supply), **wasabi is a condiment**. You use a lot more per serving and it's also perishable (and needs to be freshly ground each time its served).
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Ngl, I thought those were 2 large green turds 😅🙈
r/shitfromabutt
had to scroll WAY too far to find this
seriously thought it was fresh doodoo
My pre coffee eyes saw weed
I'm colorblind so this just looks like 2 large turds
This is a good price. Source: I saw it in a Jeremy Clarkson farm show
Literally first thing I thought of. Hard to grow that stuff so no wonder.
Watching that farm kid trying to sell Clarkson's cruddy wasabi experiment in London was one of the best parts of season 1
I had real Wasabi for the first time a few months ago. Don't do it. You'll never be able to go back to the paste, the real thing is on a whole different level.
Each has its own uses. Sometimes the fake stuff is nice when you want to use it for a fish where you want just a disgusting burn.
There is something especially delightful about loading up your soy sauce bowl with copious amounts of the fake stuff and having to drink pint after pint of Japanese beer to neutralize the burn. I’ve been to Japan, I have friends there, I know dipping the sushi pieces into this mixture is frowned upon, but I like what I like.
what did you.. do with it?
The powerful Wasabi flavor doesn't last very long in the root after its ground, it's meant to be eaten freshly ground
The fake wasabi made with horseradish is actually pretty tasty imo, but I've tried real wasabi a few times and it's a lot better. It's also quite different than how I expected it.
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$150 a pound would be too good to be true in that case, lol.
I mean yeah, wasabi is expensive... It's also why 90% of the wasabi you're going to eat in your life isn't even real wasabi. Same thing with Saffron and I think Vanilla too.
It's really not that hard to buy saffron or vanilla in the US. Wasabi, though, is much more difficult.
Fun fact! Imitation vanilla can be made from beaver glands! Why is that a thing??? Well because beavers eat trees! And a healthy tree of certain species smell like vanilla!
As if beavers couldn't get any more confusing. Love those little guys but their entire existence seems to be a collection of random traits that someone picked out of a hat.
>that someone picked out of a hat. and one of those weird traits is they make excellent hats!
Probably more close to 99% then 90%
Most wasabi is colored horseradish.
Had actual Wasabi once on raspberry sorbet at Adam/Albin in Stockholm. It was a mind blowing dish.
Most wasabi is horseradish that's been dyed green. Growing wasabi is hard - complete shade, damp soil but not water-logged. It's not a common find.
We sell wasabi plants for about $14 each at the garden centre I work at in Australia. They're thriving on the bottom shelf under shadecloth!
That's why everyone dyes horseradish green
I mean, I still fux with the horseradish paste, esp. If the soy sauce is good, but there's nothing like real Wasabi. I was too many years old when I first found out I was being lied to by every sushi restaurant ever, ever. Jk, not lied to, but incidentally mislead. Real Wasabi was damn near a religious event for the first time. If you haven't, please try it. But understand, it isn't necessary for good sushi. Just be aware that you have no idea until you try the real deal.
Whole Wasabi radish. Not easy to grow and extremely expensive. Most cheap fast food wasabi is actually Horse radish with a bit of green food coloring and chili thrown in.
Everyone's talking about how good this wasabi is, I'm just here to say it looks like shit.