Plant · P-194

Wasabi

Eutrema japonicum

Wasabi is a Japanese streamside herb whose grated rhizome makes the true wasabi paste, though most wasabi sold outside Japan is actually horseradish standing in for it. It also yields a second product: the leaves, flowers and petioles are cooked, or salt-cured and mixed with sake lees to make a pickle called wasabi-zuke. The plant needs cold water moving past its roots year-round and air that stays under 80 F, so it fails wherever summers run hot rather than where winters run cold. Grown well, the rhizome takes two to five years to reach harvestable size.