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Yes pretty much all wasabi in North America is horseradish and mustard. Real wasabi is actually very very expensive. Just go to your local grocery store and find the wasabi they sell and look at the ingredients. They will include horseradish and most likely mustard.
Read an article not too long ago about growing it here in the US, and there was only like two places that it would grow well. One was in the Blue Ridge area and the other on the Oregon Coast. It made me think that would be a darn good business to get into, if you lived in one of those areas.
again,whatever they serve and/or we buy I think it good. If we never have the real thing we will never know the difference.
Yeah, the funny thing is (I like wasabi as I've tasted it, though not too much of it.) since as you mention if I haven't tasted the real thing, I'll not know the difference (though I do hope to try it if I get a chance), but what "shocked" me about it isn't so much indignation that it's "not as good" or whatever, but that it's because from the first time I tried it as a kid and from the way I was first convinced to "try it", I had got the image that "wasabi" is this cool, strange but neat, Japanese plant/herb product with a cool taste and that image stuck, and because I thought that say, mustard or horseradish was just an "ordinary" condiment etc., one just seems so exotic and the other mundane, so that it was like realizing Santa Claus wasn't real or something...haha, not that I was upset by believing the "fake" wasabi makes it less tasty or something.
In any case, it would have been nice if it was more easily distinguished (of course we don't have the technical labelling laws with such strict definitions on types of products in North America like they have in Europe and stuff, lol); I mean, imitation crab isn't real crab but it's at least sold as "imitation", something like that.
Read an article not too long ago about growing it here in the US, and there was only like two places that it would grow well. One was in the Blue Ridge area and the other on the Oregon Coast. It made me think that would be a darn good business to get into, if you lived in one of those areas.
I've heard the same thing from specialty farmers at farmers markets here who sell their produce to top chefs in Southern California, Las Vegas & even ship them to NYC. They would love to be able to grow wasabi root locally but so far they haven't been able to cultivate it consistently. According to the itamae at the sushi bar i frequent, it used to be 10 yrs ago only the top Japanese eateries in LA/NY/SF/Seattle/etc could afford fresh wasabi, but China has been ramping up farming & prices have fallen dramatically. So, many high-end sushi bars in major cities across the US can now afford it. Just ask, because they still may reserve it for their best clients.
many high-end sushi bars in major cities across the US can now afford it. Just ask, because they still may reserve it for their best clients.
But don't think for a minute that the local China Cheap $4.99 all you can eat lunch buffet serves real wasabi.
Sometimes people tell me they don't care for Chinese food, and I ask them where they have tried it, and it's always one of the $4.99 all-you-can-eat China buffets that serve french fries and hot dogs along with their Chinese selections. It seems that there are cheap China buffets in nearly every strip mall or vacated Taco Bell around here.
I can total agree with the threadstarter. In western countries, not only in the US, the wasabi is often a very cheap fake. It tastes different and the consistence is sometimes even like a sauce. Especially these all you can eat chinese buffets seem to have special "wasabi". But I am not surprised, because the consumers are paying. So why differ?
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