So I know real wasabi is really expensive and most restaurants dont serve it, even expensive ones. Only really authentic Japanese restaurants will serve it and serve it sparingly bc not only is it expensive, but labor intensive bc you have to sit there and grind it for like 5 to 10 mins.
That said, can anyone tell me more about this type of wasabi in the picture and how its made? Gotta be horseradish right? But something is different about it and it seems higher class than other types of wasabi I try. When I get this type, Ill put extra on top of my sushi/sashimi bc its not as strong and super flavorful. Some places even serve this with meat and youre supposed to use it as a topping. Just curious if anyone knows more about it, probably someone who works as a sushi chef or serves this at their restaurant could give me some insight. Thanks 🙏
8 comments
The “I cant believe it’s not wasabi”
99% chance that what you have there is horseradish that has green food dye in it.
Some wasabi pastes contain real wasabi (can be dried and powdered). Best to check the ingredients, but look for 本わさび. That’s a indication that it contains wasabi powder.
ETA not all horseradish (and wasabi) are the same. Higher quality horseradish will taste better than low quality horseradish with a bunch of stabilizers and preservatives in it, and just because something “contains wasabi” doesn’t indicate that it’s gonna be good. IMHO neither really compares to the real thing, but ymmv. Your best option is to explore, see what you like.
I enjoy Kizami Wasabi for special occasions which is relatively easy and cheap to get.
This looks like it was made from [wasabi powder](https://www.sbfoods-worldwide.com/products/search/051.html) to me. It’s still green-dyed horseradish. There are also powdered “genuine” wasabi powders that also may have other flavors mixed in, like horseradish or mustard. Either way, yours looks like freshly mixed powdered wasabi.
ETA: Just looked at my can and it turns out there is no color added and also has some wasabi in it: Horseradish, mustard, tapioca starch, wasabi.
Green
There are LOTS of formulations of commercial wasabi paste, and there’s no easy way to determine which it is by looking at the end product. Admittedly given the texture of the paste I’m thinking that this was probably one of the refrigerated/frozen bulk products rather than the dehydrated powder.
Some of these formulations do have some real wasabi in it, but it’s important to keep in mind that this inclusion is almost always pretty far down on the ingredients list, which means they are used in minimal quantities (probably for the sake of simply saying it has wasabi in it). On the other hand, I find that most commercial formulations for restaurants don’t even bother with that.
The reason most inexpensive restaurants won’t use real wasabi does have to do with cost, but it’s less because real wasabi would be prohibitively too expensive, it’s more because there is a vastly cheaper alternative, and with how little wasabi is needed per piece of sushi, most diners won’t notice the difference, and those that do generally don’t mind the alternative.
​
>So I know real wasabi is really expensive and most restaurants dont serve it, even expensive ones. Only really authentic Japanese restaurants will serve it and serve it sparingly bc not only is it expensive, but labor intensive bc you have to sit there and grind it for like 5 to 10 mins.
While it is true that the majority of restaurants outside of Japan don’t use real wasabi, and the real stuff is quite expensive, it’s not THAT expensive. At my local Mitsuwa, a 2-4 inch whole fresh wasabi rhizome costs usually between $18-$30. It’s very expensive by weight but it’s affordable enough for most home cooks to use some if they want to given the small quantitiy that you use at a time.
I guess the term “expensive” when it comes to restaurants is fairly relative, but I find that for the sushi places I’ve visited they use real wasabi in both moderate and expensive restaurants. These are restaurants where an average single diner could expect to pay $60 for a meal without drinks up to places that cost $500 per person.
As for wasabi being labor intensive to grind, while yes it does take some time to grind wasabi it’s not really any more labor intensive than other food prep operations. At the higher end sushi restaurants I’ve been to, you do usually see them grating the wasabi at one point early in the meal and it’s usually only 1-2 minutes of grinding on the sharkskin grater to make a pile big enough for the sequence of sushi they’ll give you.
Looks like wasabi to me