Wasabi
Ah, wasabi. The word alone makes my eyes tear up a little bit in anticipation of that hot flavor that burns your sinuses in just the right way. Wasabi is a member of the brassicaceae family which has other things such as horseradish and cabbage in it as well.
As you may or may not know, wasabi has a very strong and hot flavor and is commonly known as Japanese horseradish. Wasabi is a root that grows primarily along riverbeds in mountain valleys in Japan although it grows in other regions of the world as well with just the right climate circumstances.
The part of the wasabi plant this is used is the root, and can be bought that way although if bought in its raw form, there is preparation that has to be done before it’s to be eaten. The most common way to prepare it is to grind the root into a fine powder and then turn that powder into a paste. The paste comes out green and is quite potent.
Fresh wasabi is very perishable and loses its kick quickly. For this reason if you purchase wasabi in a grocery store chances are it’s not going to be true wasabi, but a mix of horseradish, mustard and food coloring to give it the green color. True wasabi is also much more expensive than horseradish, however the flavor and effects are very similar and some of the wasabi pastes that you can find in grocery stores are quite good.
A favorite use of wasabi is to eat it with sushi. True and honest sushi restaurants will prepare the wasabi from the root in the restaurant. It’s quite amazing how quickly the flavor will leave the wasabi paste once it’s created and for this reason it should be made daily and kept in airtight containers until it’s time for it to be eaten.
Another trick used by sushi chefs is to actually put the wasabi between the fish and the rice in the sushi. This will create some of the same effect of keeping it in an airtight container and the flavor will actually permeate the sushi roll, giving it more of the flavor.
The heat of the wasabi is different than that of chili peppers in that it goes more after the sinuses than burning on the tongue. It doesn’t last as long as peppers do and can be easily diffused by drinking water should you get too hefty of a dose. In many cultures it is highly desirable to have that heat with your food and to actually sweat when eating it.
You can just smell wasabi and have it affect your sinuses right away. They have actually used it the same way that smelling salts are used with good results. It has been experimented with for use in a smoke detector for deaf people. Since they can’t hear the beeping, they’ve explored shooting a mist of wasabi vapor toward the deaf person and have found that within seconds, they awaken and are able to get to safety.