Wasabi helps fight cancer, but today most of us are eating the imitation wasabi
I read an interesting article in Koosang Koosom Thai Magazine about wasabi, also known as Japanese horseradish. I’m not a big fan of Japanese food, especially raw fish, I tasted once and I didn’t like the texture, and it might be up in my head also, the thought of it being raw. The wasabi (green paste) helps, but the strong spicy mustard taste made my eyes watery, so it appears as if I was crying whilst eating my meal (when people see me, they must have thought to themselves, must be that good.) I guess you can say wasabi is a major part of Japanese cuisine.
I did a bit more reading and discovered that it has medicine factor, might be like some of our food, ‘Wan Pben Lom, Kom Pben Ya’ (sweet is the wind (not sure why, might referring to sweet talk), and bitter is medicine.)
According to Wikipedia, recent studies have also shown that wasabi contains a natural chemical that can be used against certain cancer cells. This unique root vegetable can also be used for oral hygiene and infections. It has been suggested that wasabi can help prevent cardiovascular diseases like stroke, heart attack, and hypertension. The health benefits are many. This root can help with diarrhea, osteoporosis, asthma, arthritis, and allergies as well.
Wasabi is a member of the Brassicaceae family, which includes cabbages, horseradish and mustard. Known as “Japanese horseradish”, its root is used as a spice and has an extremely strong flavor. Its hotness is more akin to that of a hot mustard than the capsicin in a chili pepper, producing vapors that irritate the nasal passages more than the tongue. The plant grows naturally along stream beds in mountain river valleys in Japan.
Wasabi is generally sold either in the form of a root (real wasabi), which must be very finely grated before use, or as a ready-to-use paste (horseradish, mustard and food coloring), usually in tubes approximately the size and shape of travel toothpaste tubes. Once the paste is prepared it should remain covered until served to protect the flavor from evaporation. For this reason, sushi chefs usually put the wasabi between the fish and the rice.
Fresh leaves of wasabi can also be eaten and have some of the hot flavor of wasabi roots. They can be eaten as wasabi salad by pickling overnight with a salt-and-vinegar-based dressing, or by quickly boiling them with a little soy sauce. Additionally, the leaves can be battered and deep-fried into chips.
The burning sensations it can induce are short-lived compared to the effects of chili peppers, especially when water is used to remove the spicy flavor.
Almost all sushi bars in America and Japan serve imitation (seiyō) wasabi because authentic wasabi is usually expensive, but it is becoming widely available even in the United States. Wasabi loses much of its flavor if exposed to air for even a short time, so genuine powdered wasabi, while it does exist, typically contains horseradish and other ingredients to approximate the nasal spiciness of fresh wasabi. Because of this, most powders use no real wasabi and instead turn to just horseadish, mustard seed, and green food coloring (sometimes Spirulina). Whether real or imitation, the powder is mixed with an equal amount of water to make a paste. Few people, even in Japan, realize that most of the wasabi that they consume is in fact an imitation. While not considered equal with the freshly grated product, preserved wasabi is available in tubes and, in larger quantity, frozen bags. Like powder, tubed wasabi often contains no real wasabi at all, so verification of the ingredients is needed.
To distinguish between the true variety of wasabi and the imitation product, real wasabi is known in Japan as hon-wasabi, meaning original or true wasabi. Local Sushi chefs usually substitute horseradish in Japanese restaurants.
Wasabi is often served with sushi or sashimi, usually accompanied with soy sauce. The two are sometimes mixed to form a single dipping sauce known as Wasabi-joyu. Legumes (or peas) may be roasted or fried, then coated with a wasabi-like mixture (usually an imitation); these are then eaten as an eye-watering “in the hand” snack.
Fresh Wasabi is hard to import because it doesnt have a long shelf life. I guess that the wasabi Root sold in the US has been grown there.
I first tasted real Wasabi whilst in Thailand, where they also sometimes have White Wasabi. You can immediately tell the difference between the powdered version and the fresh.
Mixing powdered Wasabi with a little warm water will perk up the flavour, it also helps if you add a dash of rice vinegar.
I went to a fancy sushi place one time and they gave me this weak looking wasabi and it didn’t even have the kick like I am use to. Later the waitress told me it was real wasabi. I guess we are all use to the fake wasabi when served real wasabi we don’t even know it.
I think there is a shortage because Japanese cuisine is well known and spreading all over the world, and wasabi is an important part of Japanese cuisine. Also, wasabi can only be grown in cold mountain streams for optimal result. One of the Thai growers tried to grow wasabi in Chiang Mai, Thailand with some success but the quality of the crop is not as good and the cost is too high, he then went to Laos to grow wasabi crop there for 2 years, but no success there either. He then went to Samarang, Indonesia and found much success there and the cost is still high, but the company starts to make a turn around, so they expand to grow in China and it’s actually an ideal place to grow because the cost is low, starting next year he will stop growing the wasabi crop in Indonesia and only grow in China. So the wasabi in Thailand I would think comes from China, and they also export to Japan.
So anything you buy in the grocery shop is most likely not real Wasabi?
Hi Padek, most likely it’s the imitation, I guess you can look at the content and if it has horseradish, mustard, corn starch and food coloring, then it’s the imitation. I think the real one said real on it, if it doesn’t then it’s probably an imitation. If it’s the taste that you are after, then it shouldn’t be a big deal because most of us don’t know what the real one taste like, but if it’s the health benefits (Wasabi contains antioxidants and has anti-bacterial, anti-microbial, and anti-carcinogenic properties. It also aids digestion,) then you’d want the real one and they said that it tastes better too.
The real one takes about 3 years for the crop to mature, and if the weather is bad, then it can destroy the crop, and horseradish is a faster growing crop that can be used as imitation Wasabi, and since most people don’t know the real from fake, this is a plus for restaurant owners because they don’t have to pay high price for the real one, of course this is viewing from a cost prospective.
I think that if the powder has the words “Wasabi Powder” written on it, and it contains powdered Wasabi, then it shouldnt be labelled as a fake.
However, we all know how “labellings” in different counties can mean different things. In the USA, “No added MSG” just means that MSG powder has not been “sprinkled” on the product at any point, but that doesnt mean that some ingredients have not had MSG added to them at some point in their production… confusing eh!?
Going back to the Wasabi. It is a condiment, along with Soy sauce that should be used to enhance the delicate flavour of the fish (or whatever), most people forget this (especially some Lao who pile loads of Wasabi directly on the sushi, and not use it in the Soy sauce).
I think that Powdered Wasabi is a convenince, like the majority of premade and packaged ingredients available nowadays, it is demand that has out grown its origins.
Most people who have eaten Pasta or Pizza would be in for a big shock when they realise that what they get at “their local store” is nothing compared to the “real thing”.
Powdered Wasabi is in the same league as Powdered Parmesan. Convenient and cheaper than the real thing….