OFF THE SHELF
Wasabi — REAL wasabi — is worth its high price
By Wanda A. Adams
Advertiser Food Editor
That hot green stuff you have been dabbing on your sushi, stirring into your beurre blanc — the one that comes in a can and sometimes a tube? It's not wasabi. It's a blend of Western-style horseradish and mustard powder with coloring and other ingredients designed to give it texture.
Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser
Wasabi is often termed Japanese horseradish, but it's actually the the thick main root of a plant called Wasabi japonica, a low-growing upright plant about the size and shape of a radish plant above ground with leaves that somewhat resemble gingko leaves in shape.
In Hawai'i, authentic wasabi comes packaged or as chunks of the root.
Once you experience real wasabi — either fresh-grated, chopped and frozen or made into a paste — you won't want to go back. Except for the sticker shock.
On O'ahu, fresh wasabi sells for $69 a pound at Marukai (a membership store, but well worth the $10 annual fee — like a little trip to Japan); the two pieces you see on this page cost $13.80. Tubes of frozen chopped (kizami) wasabi (distributed by Noh) are $3.69, also at Marukai. Or you can mail-order fresh wasabi in tubes from Pacific Farms of Eugene, Ore., the country's only commercial grower, for $24.99 for six tubes, total weight half a pound: www.freshwasabi.com or (800) 927-2248.
The good news is that a little goes a long way, and fresh wasabi has a long shelf life. To store fresh wasabi, wrap in damp paper towels, keep refrigerated, rinse in cold water once a week; it should keep for 30 days. Trim any dark edges and grate, then chop with back of a knife to release more flavor. Compress into a ball and let stand 5-10 minutes at room temperature.
Spread on sashimi and dip in shoyu. Mix with shoyu and drizzle over tofu. Scatter over a bowl of noodles.
Sources: "Food Lover's Companion" by Sharon Tyler Herbst; Pacific Farms
