“The green paste you’ve been eating with your sushi isn’t really wasabi”
Really wasabi…
“is known as the hardest plant to grow commercially in the world”
“…can only tolerate temperature of around 8 to 20C (46 to 68F)”
Anyone try growing?
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I’ve killed wasabi. It did tolerate cooler than 46°F though.
Did you grow it in container? What do you think killed it?
I used to choose real wasabi at places that offered it, but in spite of myself, I prefer the more potent and broadly used substitute.
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Horseradish is very easy to grow as well. A friend of mine speaks Japanese fluently. He was a teacher in Japan. He laughed when he told me it was just horseradish.
Yes, but not quite as easy as I expected after reading how aggressive and persistent it is.
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Another friend ran the rototiller through his patch and ofcourse it came back 10x thicker.
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I been eating sushi for years without realizing it was a substitute.
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Does horseradish grow well in heavy clay? Maybe I’ll try. I also do like the minced horseradish in vinegar they sell in the refrigerated sections.
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Horse radish grows in anything.
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Even in Japan, I believe real wasabi is much less common than the substitute.
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Real Wasabi is not that hard to grow. It needs to be in shade and kept watered. It survived the “heat dome” in 2021, and the warm, dry fall last year, as well as winter temperatures near -15 C during the last 2 winters. I throw several layers of floating row cover material over my patch when arctic air is forecast for Vancouver, BC. The worst problem that I face is damage from slugs and snails.
It might not do so well in areas that are significantly hotter than Vancouver.
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Right there with you Jafar. I like the stronger horseradish based stuff more than the real thing.
I planted it in ground. It was totally fine for a while and seemed happy until suddenly it declined. I have no idea why.
I did not have it long enough to harvest the stem, but I did nibble some leaves and thought they were good as a vegetable.
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What? A metal grater?! That wasabi is ruined, he was supposed to use a sharkskin grater. Darn peasants and their lack of attention to detail… 
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They are like watercress. The native environment is very slow moving water like what you would get out of surface spring water.
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I planted in in a shady spot that stays moist year round because of underground springs.
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More than lots of water it actually needs the running water. It creates a highly oxygenated low bacterial environment that is quite unique.
When I visit family in Puerto Rico I make a point to harvest watercress because as hard as it can be to grow, given the right conditions it thrives in the wild. There are a few winding mountain roads where water seeps 24/7. You can just tell where it will be by looking at the amount of water and how it is running.
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