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Spices have been valued the world over since before recorded history, even to the extent of causing wars. Likewise, spices have been an important part of Japanese cuisine for centuries, but of all Japanese spices, wasabi—sometimes called Japanese horseradish—is special.
Wasabi is a perennial crucifer indigenous to Japan that grows only in clean, fresh running water. Like its crucifer cousins, mustard and horseradish, wasabi releases a sharp, pungent flavor when grated. This is the product of allyl mustard oil and other hot substances that are part of its composition, but unlike the other plants of the mustard family, wasabi’s sting fades almost as quickly as it is released. Wasabi has long had both culinary and medicinal uses: the substance that gives it its piquant aroma also helps stimulate appetite, and it can help relieve the pain of rheumatism when wasabi is applied to the skin like a cream.
Wasabi’s importance as a food item goes far back, but its widespread use only began when it came under cultivation in the early years of the Edo period (1603–1867). It was around this time that sushi vendors first applied a pat of grated wasabi to nigirizushi (small blocks of vinegared rice topped with raw fish). Raw fish and wasabi have been an inseparable combination ever since. Wasabi cancels out the raw odor of the fish and also acts as a preservative by inhibiting the microbes that cause fish to rot. Wasabi loses its bite within 10 minutes of being grated, a factor that probably enhanced its aesthetic value to the people of Edo—who were known for their impetuousness.
In contrast to hot peppers and their action as a stimulant, wasabi has a soothing effect that some scholars have even gone so far as to claim reflects the Japanese psyche. Whatever its psychological and aesthetic attributes, though, wasabi is an essential condiment to raw fish, and raw fish—itself, for most people in the world an unusual thing to be eating—is an integral part of Japanese cuisine. |
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| Wasabi flowers from January through April. The wasabi flower can be served as deep-fried tempura or as a vinegared dish. |
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