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Comment by WalterGR | Hacker News Reader

I've heard that most wasabi in American restaurants is actually horseradish with green food coloring. Does anyone know more?

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I had heard the same, but it is true even in Japan.

Real Wasabi is insanely water-intensive. This is where I first read about it:

https://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/585172/wasabi-fake/

There is a NZ brand which has cracked cultivation. It is not cheap.

https://www.purewasabi.co.nz/

ETA: I have not tried it. Saving the purchase for when I can talk my wife into sushi from my wild catches. Tall order.

Yes, even in Japan real wasabi is a treat at a nice sushi place. Most wasabi is gathered and cultivated by hand, and then freshly hand grated for your seating. You can buy the root at some Japanese stores and grate it yourself.

yeah but if you get real wasabi, to do it justice you're gonna need the traditional shark pelt mounted on an artisanal wooden board to grind it on. we aren't peasants.

There are a number of places in the PNW that grow wasabi, at least one on Vancouver island, one in Oregon, and I think one in Washington. The price at my local asian grocery store seems to range from $99 to $199 per pound over the last 3-4 years. Totally nonscientific, I just pay attention when picking up other herbs. I'd guess about $129/lb is normal there. I still haven't convinced myself to make a meal to justify the expense, I don't cook enough Japanese food.

https://www.thewasabistore.com/the-farm-1

NC State University’s horticulture program also cultivates it in mountain stream beds.

side remark wrt wild catch:

Take good care of parasites. The deep frying of stor bought fish is also a parasite treatment, so is cooking. Wild catch needs detailed knowledge for the specific species, if and how it needs inspection and if and how it can be eaten uncooked and unfrozen, ie completely raw.

Wild catch is not just in and by itself "good and healthy"

This article has some sound references at the end:

https://sushimodern.com/sushi/safe-sushi-grade-species/

Oh yes. I am well aware of the parasites.

Our next freezer will be of the requisite grade.

Local fishing charters here like to dice up fresh salmon or trout on the boat as sashimi. I reckon their customers stay thin, if you follow my meaning.

Freezing deep freezing! autocorrect fried my freezing, can't edit any more, thanks for reading my gibberish as intended

I don't think you need a special grade freezer. Just one that isn't self defrosting. It only has to be at -4F for a week or two.

Yeah, you can shorten that time with colder temperatures I have read.

Also, some fancy sushi chefs let the fish age a while at very low temps. See: Naomichi Yasuda

According to the FDA tuna is the only one that's not required to undergo parasite destruction. Even then is not "no risk" its "extremely small risk".

In the US, you're generally paying extra for real wasabi (it'll be on the menu, in a better Japanese place). Honestly: unless you're like a connoisseur of wasabi, the "fake" stuff is a more effective product; real, freshly grated wasabi is kind of watery and weak. Certainly, if you're one of those "mix wasabi into the soy sauce" people, real wasabi isn't what you want.

A simple rule of thumb is: if the chef didn’t grate the wasabi in front of you immediately before serving, you got coloured horse radish.

I’ve had plenty of both but I generally enjoy the sharper heat of the latter more, even though it annoys me that it’s mislabelled and hence a bit “fake”.

It's worth trying real wasabi at least once to know what it tastes like and appreciate it. It has hints of grass, as it should for a vegetable/root that has been recently grated, sometimes in front of you (and it must be recently grated, to not have lost its flavor). It has a slower/deeper flavor than the horseradish stuff which hits you more immediately in the nose like mustard -- real wasabi takes just a little longer. And you can definitely tell it's a plant fiber, it's not just a mushy paste like the powdered stuff.

Ask for it at higher priced places where they take a little more care about the fish quality and eventually you're bound to find some. Like so many things it's good to know the difference at least once. It's no huge loss if you only eat the horseradish the rest of the time, but at least have experienced it once!

I don’t see much problem with this. Most Japanese people have a green tube of grated wasabi in their house. (https://www.sbfoods.co.jp/products/detail/16343.html)

There’s definitely filler (more than 50% is real)but I don’t think people care, especially the average busy wife trying to get dinner on the table every day.

Most of the time I’ve had real wasabi its at a super nice place, like eating kaiseki, and it’s presented as the root with a small shark skin grater.

> Most Japanese people have a green tube of grated wasabi in their house. (https://www.sbfoods.co.jp/products/detail/16343.html)

>> 原材料名: 本わさび、西洋わさび、...

...except the everyday stuff shown in your link indeed contains substantial 本わさび as a first ingredient, whereas the typical stuff sold in the US[1] is effectively just 西洋わさび and happens to be explicitly labeled "For external Japan" (despite also being manufactured in Japan) for reasons.

In other words, a consumer in Japan who settles on "close enough" isn't really making an equivalent compromise as a consumer in the US.

[1] https://www.sbfoods-worldwide.com/products/search/001.html

Excellent points. It makes me wonder… I love yuzukosho. I don’t taste the difference but I wonder if the ingredients are significantly different from between the JP and the US one.

Then they can label it something else and let people make their own decisions about it.

Also most storebought salmon and tuna is soaked in red/pink dye to give it that color. Farm raised fish don't always have that color unless their diet supplies the carotenoids and other things they need for that color, like a flamingo that turns pink from its diet.

Is that true for wild salmon or only farm Raised salmon?

I don't think the flesh of farmed salmon is actually soaked in dye. Rather, farmers use an additive in the food pellets. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astaxanthin Note that astaxanthin is also what colors the flesh of wild salmon, they just consume it naturally. https://wildalaskancompany.com/blog/heres-why-salmon-are-pin...

It's not dye, it's carbon monoxide. New York Times article: https://nyti.ms/3Ni2CFL

Where I am located, it is dye. Dye is far more common.

In South Korean markets, the cheap tubes of "wasabi" are colored horseradish. The texture of the cheap stuff is grainier. As for the taste difference, I can't think of the right words, but it's like the difference between cheap and fine coffee. The flavor of real thing is somehow mellower and richer.

I've had real wasabi and was pretty underwhelmed. Not nearly as strong so you appreciate the flavors more. But not worth the exorbitant price.

I disagree, though I’m not sure it’s all that superior to freshly grated white horseradish.

Yes, real wasabi has an earthy flavor and will be a bit chunky. You’ll know it if you get it and you’ll be paying a lot extra for it (even in Japan). Most of us have never had real wasabi.

Not just USA. Got mugged in Europe: wasabi was actually horseradish. My fault? Should have read the label, i guess.

Is it really mugging if "wasabi" is really horseradish everywhere? At this point wasabi is just the name for horseradish paste.

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