Wasabi

For over a thousand years, Japan’s somewhat moderately flavoured cooking has been given an unusual pungency through the addition of wasabi. Meaning mountain hollyhock, it is sometimes introduced as the Japanese equivalent of Western horseradish, though the two are not related. Wasabi grows in the wild in clear mountain streams, but is now mostly cultivated at wasabi farms using pure running water diverted from nearby rivers.

Grated fresh wasabi has a milder fragrance and less sharp pungency than horseradish. However, freshly grated wasabi is a rarity even in Japan and the root is more commonly used in its powdered and paste forms, which are now widely available all over the world, argely due to the sushi phenomenon. When grated, fresh wasabi reveals a vivid green flesh.