"wasabi" news and stories

Reconstituted wasabi isn't as good as fresh ground, but it still has some utility. Here's a good trick for reconstituting it.

I've become obsessed with wasabi. I love the stuff. I don't remember quite how it started, but after having something with the flavor, I've tasted everything with wasabi that I can buy or whip up, from delicious wasabi-covered almonds to wasabi mashed potatoes to tasty lumps of it with sushi. However, did you know that it's not only a spicy, tasty nose-cleaner, but something that can also improve your health?

That's Fit recently posted an ode to wasabi that gives the low-down. If you buy the good stuff, and not the cheap, fake substitute, the tasty condiment can offer a variety of perks due to it containing Isothiocyanates, powerful antioxidants, as well as Potassium and Calcium. It can help slow down cancer, fight teeth rot, help prevent ulcers and parasites, has antimicrobial benefits, might help heart disease, and is good for detoxing.

And here I thought it was just darned tasty.

• You can make a lot of different things with mangoes.
• This guy makes green beans pickled with soy sauce and wasabi, smokra (which is okra with smokey paprika), and rosemary-scented pickled beets.
• This isn't your typical veggie burger.
• An interview with Barbara Kingsolver about her new food book.
• More books: it's the silver anniversary of The Silver Palate Cookbook.
• This week's recipes: Bulgur Wheat Salad, Imperial Asparagus, Chicken Marbella, Rougaille Beef, and Brownies.

More good news for all you wine lovers out there. ZAP, the Zinfandel Advocates & Producers, will be traveling to various locations across America for Grand Tasting Events, as brought to our attention by Deidre at our sister site Luxist.

The tastings are scheduled for May 8 in Austin, May 10 at the Wrigley Mansion in Phoenix, and will be a part of Winefest No. 12-A Toast To Children's Health in Minneapolis on May 11-12.

The menus accompanying the tastings sound absolutely delicious as well. As an example, the Arizona tasting will feature such fare as Ahi Tuna Bites with Raspberry-Wasabi Sauce, Chili Lime Salmon Satay, Mushroom Stuffed with Pinenuts, and Duck Confit Profiteroles.

If you live in one of those areas and are interesting in participating, details on the events including admission prices can be found on the ZAP website.

Source

In space, eating can be a tricky endeavor - or rather, food preparation can be because astronauts can't take advantage of the two main things we take for granted in food preparation on earth: gravity and fresh foods. Gravity keeps batters in mixing bowls, eggs in frying pans and sandwiches on the cutting board while you assemble them. It also keeps spilled food together, even if it lands on the floor. This last fact, probably underappreciated by clumsy chefs, is key in space. Food is packaged in tubes and single-serving bags because if it gets away from the astronaut, it could end up going in a million different directions.

Astronauts on the international space station recently had to face such an incident when Sunita Williams spilled a tube of wasabi while "trying to make a pretend sushi meal with bag-packaged salmon." While not toxic, wasabi isn't a completely nonvolatile substance and it took a week to clean it up ("it was flying around everywhere," said Williams) and get rid of the smell.

Needless to say, the wasabi tube - or what is left of it - has been put into storage.

Source