Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Spice guide to Wasabi along with all the Wasabi containing recipes presented on this site, with 8 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Cornish recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain as a major flavouring.

Wasabi (also known as Japanese horseradish) is produced from the root of Wasabia japonica, a member of the Brassica family. The root itself has a very strong flavour and produces vapours that irritate the sinus cavity. The two main cultivars of wasabi in Japan are the dark green daruma wasabi [達磨山葵, だるまわさび] and the paler but hotter matsuma wasabi [真妻山葵, まつまわさび]. Even in it's native Japan, wasabi can be quite difficult to grow and it grows best in flowing water (the roots being traditionally grown on the banks of mountain streams). In recent years, wasabi is being grown in New Zealand and California in an attempt to cater for the growing Japanese community.

Wasabi is sold in root form, which must be very finely grated before use, or as a ready-to-use paste, which comes in tubes approximately the size and shape of travel toothpaste tubes. Once the paste is prepared it should remain covered until served to protect the flavour from evaporation. Wasabi is also available in powdered form, but because the active component is very volatile this is nowhere near as pungent as fresh wasabi. It should also be noted that many commercial preparations of 'wasabi' are actually a mix of horseradish, mustard and chlorophyll (used as a green colorant).

In terms of sensory quality, wasabi is quite like horseradish, though the sensations are a little more pure and fresh with strong pungency. However, the pungent taste is not discernible in the dried root and only emerges when the root (ground or powdered) has been treated with water for a few minutes (if you taste the dried root or powder without water then there is a distinct bitter note to it). The pungent components in wasabi are isothyanates, the main one being sinigrin (also present in black mustard and horseradish). There are also traces of glucocochlearin, which is hydrolyzed to allyl isothiocyanate (CH₂=CH–CH₂–NCS) and sec-butyl isothiocyanate (CH₃–CH₂–CH(CH₃)–NCS), which are the pungent 'mustard oils' in wasabi. There are also a number of ω-methyl­thio­alkyl iso­thiocyanates in the volatile fractions (namely 6-methyl­thio­hexyl iso­thiocyanate, 7-methyl­thio­heptyl iso­thiocyanate and 8-methyl­thio­ocytl iso­thiocyanate) that are responsible for the characteristic taste of wasabi. Interestingly,short-chain homologues of these compounds are also found in the herb, rocket (arugula).

Small amounts of wasabi are used in the making of Sushi, either applied directly to the sushi nori or placed between the rice and the fish. It is also common to have wasabi as a condiment where it is mixed with soy sauce and the sushi or sashimi is dipped into this mixture.