Species sheet · The Edible River
Wasabi
A root that only grows in running water.
- Grated fresh, to order, over sashimi or soba
- Stems and leaves brined as wasabi-zuke
- Flowers and young leaves in tempura
- Scientific name
- Eutrema japonicum
- In the water
- A plant of shaded Japanese stream beds, grown on terraces of gravel where spring water flows without pause, cool all year round.
- Season & buying
- Harvested year-round as the beds mature, after well over a year in the water; fresh roots are found mostly at growers and Japanese grocers.
- Common length
- ~30 cm
- How to identify it
- Knobbly pale green rhizome covered in leaf scars
Large round heart-shaped leaves on long stalks
Small white flowers in spring
On the plate
A heat that climbs into the nose and fades fast, over a green, almost sweet freshness.
Avoid: Grating it ahead or stirring it into soy sauce: the aroma is gone within a quarter of an hour.
Most of the green paste served outside Japan contains no wasabi at all: it is dyed horseradish, the real rhizome being rare and expensive.
In Umay recipes
6 Umay recipes call for it.
