The first thing to know about wasabi - or Wasabia japonica, as it's officially known - is that you have probably never tried the real thing. That light green paste nestled next to the pink ginger in your box of sushi? It is most likely a mix of mustard, European horseradish, and food colouring. The methods for eating real wasabi differ significantly from those of the powdered kind, particularly if the plant is fresh.
In its most traditional preparation, the root is stood on a grater made of a piece of sharkskin stapled to a wooden paddle. Using a circular, clockwise motion, one presses the rhizome down and a paste is formed. The heat and flavour - significantly less bracing than imitation wasabi, but similarly sharp - last only for 10 to 15 minutes, so wasabi is grated as needed. Nobu Ochi has been buying the wasabi Mr Oates produces from the beginning, and selling it to customers at his Zen Japanese restaurant in downtown Vancouver.
Wasabi was initially used by the Japanese many centuries ago as a way of preventing illness: the story goes that it was used on raw fish to prevent food poisoning, not because of its spicy taste. But because wasabi is grown in a manner unlike most other crops, it has long been mostly cultivated by the Japanese for the Japanese market.
In addition to wasabi's unique cultivation, the problem for the would-be North American wasabi farmer has also been access - getting their hands on seeds or cuttings from which they can try to grow the plant. Mr Oates says he first became interested in farming wasabi in , but it took him six years simply to get access to viable seeds from which he could grow the plant. For years, he grew the crop in greenhouses on the University of British Columbia's UBC's campus in Vancouver, where he worked at the time, but kept running into problems.
Finicky wasabi, if exposed to too much humidity, would die; the wrong nutrient composition could lead to a similar fate.
He notes in particular that wasabi is especially prone to disease when planted on a large scale. But finally, after working with graduate students at UBC, he developed a method - which is now a trade secret - that allows wasabi to be cultivated on an industrial scale without succumbing to disease.
This is often called the rhizome. Simply break those off. You can replant those and begin right away growing more wasabi! Take the plant stalk and only grate want you want to use right then. The rest you store in the refrigerator and when stored properly, it will keep for weeks.
When you harvest wasabi greens make sure to leave the little leaf that is sprouting from the very top center of the plant. Wasabi plants grow leaves year round and you can keep harvesting leaves every 6 -8 weeks and enjoy wasabi greens during the whole 15 months to two years that you are growing the plant stalks.
The same 8 weeks applies to the leaf stalk or stem. When you harvest wasabi green make sure to also harvest the leaf stalk. Wasabi leaf stalks are delicious! They are spicy and crunchy and you can eat them raw and use them in cooking. Think of them as thin spicy celery. If you want to grow wasabi in your back yard the best way to get started is to order wasabi plant starts. Here is a link for you to buy Wasabi Plant Starts - www.
Below is what we learned from Jennifer. Wasabi Plants Needs Full Shade If you are going to grow wasabi in your backyard you need to make sure that your wasabi plants have full shade. Wasabi is quite picky about its growing conditions Wasabi Cultivation. Wasabi prefers cool, shady conditions and will sometimes thrive if left undisturbed in misty mountain stream beds. Since it is quite intolerant of direct sunlight, wasabi is typically grown under shade cloth or beneath a natural forest canopy.
Wasabia japonica plants are slow growing perennials with a rooted, thickened stem rhizome , long petioles and large leaves.
All parts of the wasabi japonica plant, including rhizomes, roots, stems and leaves are harvested, processed and valued for use. The appearance of the wasabi rhizome is similar to a brussel sprout stalk after the sprouts are removed. They terminate into single heart shaped leaves that, in optimum conditions, can reach the size of a small dinner plate. Wasabia japonica plants can take as much as three years to reach maturity.
Initially, given the right conditions, the wasabi plant produces robust top and root growth, reaching approximate knee height 2 feet with an overall width about the same. After this initial establishment phase the rhizome begins to build and store reproductive nutrients. It is this concentration of energy which produces the best flavors, so the rhizomes are generally the most valued for culinary purposes. Typically, the rhizome will reach a size of six to eight inches long and an inch or so in diameter in approximately twenty-four months.
Wasabi leaves and leaf stems petioles tend to be brittle.
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