The wasabi you think you’re eating isn’t wasabi
Maybe it’s free pistachio ice cream that turned?
Oh, it’s a fine day indeed at stately Boing Boing Manor. Green stains everywhere and Rob continuously yelling “WASSSSSAAAAABI” to anybody who walks through the door.
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True Vanilla contains more than 200 aromatic substances, and depending on the fermentation process a hell lot of other compounds adding to the taste as well. Vanillin is but one of those. It is double blind test provable that one can distinguish the two. If you can’t, I am really sorry for you. You might not know what you are missing, but it would really be a loss.
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I need the CCTV of this. Right nao.
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America’s Test Kitchen recently looked at this very thing. (you have to subscribe to see the results, but not to read the summary (click read more), which is the relevant bit here):
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Wasabi Wednesday?
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Uh, are you sure there is that much fake wasabi out there? A quick Amazon search for wasabi found the first and third items claim to be 100% pure wasabi, or wasabi with some well known preservatives.
They are not expensive either.
A professor at UBC developed a method to farm wasabi commercially recently; A company here is growing it now. https://wasabihealth.com/
If you are bothered by the fake wasabi, do not ask about the calamari.
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A farm near the Oregon Coast grows wasabi. They sell the whole root in local stores for jesushchristwhatthehell a pound. It’s different than the horseradish and mustard oil green paste, but not so much better that I will buy the real stuff very often.
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And don’t buy it from the mohel
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I sprung for fresh, real wasabi for New Years this year. It is indeed better than the paste, but not earth-shakingly better. The taste is fresher, “greener,” and the wasabi burn lasts less than second. It’s there-and-gone, rather than lingering for a minute in your sinuses.
It only sounds expensive by the pound. You only need 1-2 ounces for a group of 14 people ravaging a huge feast of sushi.
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I am so very glad someone else has had the thought that calamari rings resemble foreskins! Lol I really thought it was only me! 
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Having had real freshly-grated wasabi, I will say, it’s much better and quite different, IMHO, than pseudo wasabi paste. Which I consume regularly. But I’ll take he real thing any day, especially if I’m eating elite-caliber sushi.
That’s not fresh wasabi, that says powdered wasabi. Pretty sure the real thing would be a fresh root that you grate, just like horseradish.
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Thanks for the link. I find it (extremely) misleading to test extracts, TBH. Also, rating what you like best is likely to be biased based on what you are used to. Many people like the taste of pure vanillin, but they could tell the difference to real vanilla anyways.
And they could learn to like the nuances and complexity.
Just FTR, I worked in Madagascar in 2005/2006. The country and it’s population are getting poorer since then.
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The first time I had wasabi was the time I realized quickly that it wasn’t avocado.
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I’ve had two family members make that mistake. Both to hilarious results.
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