You Have Been Eating Fake Wasabi Your Whole Life

Zayne Seah
2 min readMar 22, 2016

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Wasabi is so damn expensive, chances are, you have never eaten true Wasabi your entire life, or at least as often as you think.

Due to the fact that demand for Wasabi is incredibly high, it’s a really expensive seasoning. Wasabi isn’t actually suppose to be burning. Its’s hot, but the sensation isn’t suppose to linger.

In truth, you have probably been eating a mixture of horseradish. colouring and perhaps mustard.

The Facts:

Real Wasabi is made by grating Wasabia Japonica

Credits: Food & Wine

Real Wasabi is incredibly expensive

Credits: Chef 2 Go

To grow Wasabi ideally, you can only have a fluctuation of 3 degrees Celsius (between 12–15 degrees). It is also hand-harvested. The amount of man hours needed to produce that speck of Wasabi is insane.

Fake Wasabi (the one you have been eating) is actually horseradish.

Horseradish tastes harsher, but it grows faster and is much cheaper. Your Wasabi is a mixture of horseradish, citric acid, mustard extract, yellow dye no. 5, and blue dye no. 1. The amount of genuine Wasabi you consume is probably only around 5%.

For more Japanese Cuisine articles:

The Only 4 Sushi Fish You Need to Order

How To Tell If The Salmon On Your Plate Is Toxic — Farmed VS Wild Salmon

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Zayne Seah

A “Fit Foodie” trying to explain “atas” food, from one layman to another