I heard once from Taka Sakaeda YouTube video, that unless you ever bought real Wasabi rhizomes yourself, or have seen chef with grater in his hand actually grating one in a restaurant (another words, you know taste of Wasabi only from tubes), you have likely never ever eaten tasted real Wasabi in your life.
Well, that is pretty much true.
Most tubed Wasabi are made of horseradish mixed with some starch and mustard plus some artificial dye to give it green color.
Unfortunately, quite often those products, are marketed alongside entire deceptive campaign designed to deceive buyers.
Time and case – O-Wasabi sold on Amazon. Amazon page of this product changed a bit over last few months (probably under pressure of complaints). Product was originally described as “real genuine” Wasabi (it is still described as such today), AND was showing about ten pictures of: various Wasabi fields, processing, rhizomes close ups, as well bunch of other materials praising how good and versatile product is, and how “genuine” thing is superior to fake ones. Supposedly (according to seller claims) O-wasabi has most authentic taste, most importantly, it has balanced spiciness which not overwhelms taste of food eaten with, as oppose (according to them), to cheap fake knock offs (which do). Unless you scrolled page, way, way down, found link “ingredients” and clicked on it (it has to be clicked to expand and be visible), you would think you getting a 100% real thing. Clicking “ingredients” revealed: horseradish 40%, wasabi 15%…. As of time of writing this, Amazon pictures (possibly under some legal action), changed. Now you can see ingredients on 2nd picture. It was not so always though.
Another method was to make ingredient list obscured. Time and case Tamaruya Wasabi. Again description of this product changed over time. It was originally described as “Honwasabi” (will get to explain this term later). Look however at the picture of its ingredient list(scroll down page and find first review with picture). Well, as you can see, no one will be able to read anything from this ingredient list. Apparently printed method is not the best…. and let say,… it is very likely not a best for a reason…
Another method of getting away with deceptive wording such as: “real”, “genuine”, “authentic” Wasabi, was fact horseradish in Japanese is actually called,… “Wasabi”. It is “Seiyo wasabi” where “Seiyo” stands for “western”, (while native to Japan plant is actually called “Wasabi Japonica”). Nevertheless, technically speaking, statement is not false. Tube indeed contains “real Wasabi”,… which happens to be,…horseradish…
Doing some research, revealed, packing grated Wasabi’s rhizome into tube, is really not technically feasible. Problem is spiciness. Spiciness of Wasabi does not come from any single chemical ingredient of a plant, but from mixture of two of them, which comes to contact with each other only when cell membranes of a plant are broken (during grating). Problem is this mixture is very unstable, and spiciness decreases substantially over 15 minutes, while decimating to close to zero over 30 minutes. To overcome this problem, some manufacturers came with idea of “Honwasabi”, where “hon” in Japanese language stands for “real”, “authentic” and signifies it refers to Wasabia Japonica plant as oppose to horseradish. Parts of plant which are typically used are however leafs and stalks (not rhizomes), to give it some planty taste of real Wasabi. That said, unless horseradish is also added, product might not be spicy at all.
Well, after all different Amazon “Wasabi” I have tried, since I started getting deeper and deeper involved with sushi/sashimi world, I decided, I cannot live any longer unless I try what a real thing tastes like.
After some research I found seller, which for $80 was offering 1/2lb (two medium size rhizomes – most economical to product ratio option, as shipping at that size was free). Once ordered, by mistake, even if was charged $80 for 1/2lb i received just one root. Upon calling, they promptly without hesitation agreed to refund $40 though, so I really paid just $40 for 1/4lb (would I order that size originally I would have to pay $60 with shipping – so I lucked up). I kept my rhizome wrapped in wet paper towel, in plastic ziplock bag, at the very bottom drawer of my refrigerator, set to medium cold. It lasted in spotless condition over 4 weeks till I finally ate last piece.
You might be wondering, so what is my personal opinion on real Wasabi rhizome taste? You probably will be surprised what you hear.
After pealing skin and grating first bit from wider side (top), to be honest I was in shock. It did not tasted as anything I have ever eaten before. Bitter, planty taste without any spiciness at all. By now I suspecting, I did not pealed skin sufficiently or perhaps, who knows, perhaps that’s how very end tastes.
Anyway I found (I think on this forum) following blog, following it’s method, next time I pealed skin gently with small very sharp petty knife from both sides, grated from both sides, then immediately mixed it together. According to blog mixture reaches peak spiciness 5 minutes after grating/mixing. I tried it immediately after mixing then 5 minutes later. Could not sense any difference between two times, nevertheless, this time, yes it was spicy and definitely Wasabi like taste. Spiciness indeed progressively decreased over time.
What my take on real thing taste? Well, LOL, you will be surprised again.
I find it identical (could not sense any difference at all at beginning) to this, cheap S&B Wasabi. Color is definitely different. Also if you try both, one after another, many times in row, indeed real rhizome do have very faint planty hints tube version does not. This is however very, very subtle, and the only, difference besides color at all.
In afterthought, I don’t think tubed Wasabi are neither that bad nor that much different in general. That said I also must say, I really dislike and cannot condone where, CLEARLY, efforts are made to mislead, misinform and deceive buyers. There is psychology which relates to dishonest people. If you cannot be honest with small things, it’s likely you not be honest with big either. Honwasabis frankly I finding least resembling, real thing of all. Still,… their taste is often time quite interesting and quite worthy IMHO, EVEN when different from rhizomes. From time of seeking for real things, I also came across this Kikkomam Wasabi, and even it is not resembling a real thing at all, I buying it now regularly for my homemade bread wraps. Really like the taste. If you ever considering to spend $80 for authentic real thing, motivated by cries how authentic thing is “so much better” than fake, my advice is, save yourself money.
That said, there is one more aspect/disclaimer I want to mention. Some time ago I watched program on TV where group of 12 or so kids was subjected to some medical test (it probably was blood test, watched long ago, don’t remember what exactly was it). Anyway test was to detect some chemical naturally produced in their body. Next all kids were offered to taste broccoli. Some would eat without complaining while others hated it claiming it tastes bitter. Now when test results were finally revealed, it became clear ALL kids which hated broccoli tested positive for chemical (don’t remember its name), while ALL kids which were not complaining were negative. Parents were advised to stop forcing children and blaming them for not liking things. Point I trying to make, this clearly shows in general food DOES NOT tastes identical to all of us. If you eat something it does not mean what you taste is necessarily exactly what I taste. Keep this in mind when drawing conclusions from this post. Would I read my own post, before I ever tried real rhizome, to be honest, very very likely I would still buy it anyway. I’m so deep into sushi, and Wasabi is such a significant part of it, I still would feel a need for trying real things and deciding on my own. For reasons mentioned it is not absolutely impossible you might have different experience on it, than mine, hence, buying and trying one on your own is not necessarily unreasonable.
What I wrote is my honest (nevertheless subjective) opinion on a taste. I obviously do not have “the chemical” as I love broccoli, cannot sense any sense of bitterness in it at all. For some reason however, since my very early childhood I really hate (with passion) fried liver, or any liver at all for that matter. It tastes to me extremely unacceptably bitter and yucky. Some chemical responsible? Who knows! If your take is different, write in replies. It will be interesting to hear. It also (hopefully) will help build overall picture across different people and help others make their choices. Whatever your tastes or opinions might be (as long as you are not involved in purposeful deception) – it will be respected.
by Kowalski_boston
