Now we know that sometimes the burn hurts so good and sometimes, you might give the sushi chef a heart attack by adding too much wasabi to your shoyu. If you’re a purist, less is more. If you’re crazy, well, you’re crazy. There will never be a right nor wrong when it comes to how much wasabi – it’s completely subject to taste.
Quality of wasabi, though, is not so subjective. Most of us are accustomed to the wasabi paste made from mixing water with a powder, that might even have green food coloring added to it! However, the best sushi bars will have fresh wasabi flown in from Japan. It is a subtle green root that looks like the unwanted alien love child of gingerroot, regular horseradish, and an anorexic pineapple. Finely grated, and with no other additives, it has a much gentler taste than the powder-paste.
Fresh wasabi can go for almost $100/pound, which makes me wonder why I shouldn’t just grow the stuff myself and peddle it to the local sushi bars here in LA. Frogfarm in Seattle, WA has baby plants for only $7.50 each. You can also order from Pacific Farms in Eugene, OR, who will sell you a half dozen baby wasabi plants for $23.95. Sounds like a tiny investment that will have huge ROI in the end...BUT be warned, wasabi is very very difficult to grow, and will produce a root that might be usable at the end of 18 months. Still worth a shot. I might be an American wasabi millionaire in 2007.
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