Real Wasabi facts

While investigating facts about Real Wasabi Price and Real Wasabi Vs Fake, I found out little known, but curios details like:

Real wasabi is actually pretty rare, expensive, and loses flavor within 15 minutes, so most of the time it's actually made from horseradish.

how real wasabi is made?

99% of the wasabi consumed in the world is not actually wasabi, it’s horseradish + green food colouring. Real wasabia japonica is one of the most expensive crops to grow and is a temperamental semiaquatic herb native to the mountain streams of central Japan.

What does real wasabi look like?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across answering what is real wasabi made of. Here are 14 of the best facts about Real Wasabi Root and Real Wasabi Paste I managed to collect.

what's real wasabi?

1. The wasabi we eat in the US is fake. Real Wasabi is hard to cultivate and expensive to mass produce

2. Most Wasabi we eat is just horseradish, mustard and food coloring. Real Wasabi comes from grating the root Wasabia Japonica.

3. Most Wasabi served across the world isn’t the real thing. It comes from grating the root of the wasabi plant native only to Japan, unlike the horseradish and spice mix that is usually served.

4. Most American wasabi (90-99%) is in fact fake. Real wasabi is very hard to cultivate and therefore not so readily available

5. Real wasabi is rarely found outside Japan. You have probably never eaten real wasabi. Products labelled 'wasabi' are usually a mixture of horseradish and mustard. They do not contain any part of the wasabi plant.

6. Most wasabi is actually fake - it's horseradish with green dye. And REAL wasabi is extremely rare...

7. Most wasabi is man made/fake, you probably never eaten real wasabi

8. There's no real wasabi in the "wasabi" paste you get at sushi restaurants

9. Real wasabi is so expensive because it can only be grown in Japan, takes 18 months to grow, and can only be harvested by hand

10. The wasabi we eat with our sushi isn't real wasabi, it's horseradish with green dye.

Why is real wasabi so rare?

You can easily fact check why is real wasabi expensive by examining the linked well-known sources.

I've probably never eaten REAL wasabi. What I'm normally served with sushi is actually a mixture of horseradish, mustard, starch and green food coloring.