Week Wasabi

Wasabi. That little mound of green stuff that comes along with your sushi is a surprisingly complex spice. I've always thought of it as the spice equivalent of flash paper; it's intense, but it burns out quickly. Usually, even if my eyes are watering (I learned the word for "something that makes your eyes water" when looking up wasabi - "lachrymatory") when I exhale, I exhale all of the heat along with the air. Which I like, because it means that you can risk putting a bunch on, knowing that the pain will be fairly transitory if you misjudge.

I generally like piquant food, but I find that even people who don't like food particularly hot enjoy wasabi. Well, enjoy things that are like wasabi - it's entirely possible that it's a spice that you've never actually tasted. Real wasabi is very expensive - the pure, ground root costs ten to twenty dollars an ounce or more, and that ounce generally doesn't take you very far. Wasabi powders start out, at the lowest end, not including any wasabi at all; seiyo-wasabi is made from horseradish and mustard powder and dyed green. One spice house (whose honesty I appreciate) describes their natural wasabi as "A blend of horseradish, mustard, tapioca starch and wasabi."

I'm not sure, to be perfectly honest, how large the difference is. The first time I used the "natural wasabi" instead of the non-wasabi powder we used to use, I could definitely taste the difference. Hotter and... brighter, more flavorful. Tonight, however, Victoria made sushi for us for dinner, and I have no idea which one she used. Well, that's not quite true either - the non-wasabi powder has been moved, so I'm fairly certain she used that. Three possible explanations - either I was fooling myself that I could taste a difference, or the difference is so slight that I have to be looking for it to notice. Third, and the one I think is most likely, is that the old wasabi powder is the one that I'm most used to; we've been using that type of powder for years, and have only used the new one once or twice, so nothing was different from what I expected.


So what is wasabi? It's a rhizome - an underground leaf-bearing stem, similar to ginger or turmeric. Even though horseradish is most often used to fake wasabi, they're not related; wasabi is a type of cabbage. The rich green color most of us associate with wasabi is marketing mumbo-jumbo, a reminder that chlorophyll or other dyes are being used to color it. The two main variants of wasabi are pale green and nearly white, with the lighter color being the hotter one. Outside of japan, few people will ever see an actual wasabi root. Wasabi only grows in Japan, and its flavor is extremely fragile. Wasabi gets powdered and dried to protect the flavor, then gets shipped out. (Traditionalist sushi cooks grate fresh wasabi using a sharkskin grater. This doesn't add to the flavor, but I'm sure adds significantly to the awesomeness of both the sushi and the chef.)

Fragile flavor? Sure, most of us think of wasabi as a total bruiser. It's hard to think of something that can kick your ass so easily as fragile. But wasabi has a glass jaw. Think about it - and think about our definition of spice. Volatile essential oils. Think about that flash paper effect; wasabi is strong, yes, but it's also extremely volatile. Try it for yourself; mix some up (or swipe some from the restaurant next time you go out for sushi.) By the next morning, most of the fire will have faded; by the evening, it'll be hard to taste anything at all.

This makes my life at least a little difficult, but at the same time, a little more educational. I was planning, tomorrow or the day after, buying some tuna steaks; I've occasionally grilled tuna with wasabi and soy sauce on it. I always assumed that I wasn't putting on enough wasabi, because it never came out particularly spicy. Actually, heat will kill wasabi fairly quickly. It needs to be mixed into something and kept cool in order to keep its flavor.

Ironically, respecting its fragility needs to happen on both sides - you can't just mix up some powder and water and expect it to taste good. You need to give it at least fifteen minutes to come to its full potency, after which it immediately starts going downhill from exposure to air. This is part of the reason why sushi rolls (yes, I am aware that my sushi terminology is off. Don't be pedantic.) are made with a schmear of wasabi paste inside of them - once it is rolled up, it is somewhat protected from the deleterious effects of contact with air. The lump of paste that is plated along with it has no such protection.


I will admit - I was, at one time, one of those macho idiots who piled tons of wasabi onto my sushi in order to prove I can take it. I have since learned that if you leave sushi alone, it has a subtle and complex taste that you can actual enjoy, if your eyes aren't watering through it. These days, actually, I've become an annoying purist about almost everything; I don't put a sauce on my steak, I don't take sugar in my tea, and I don't put soy sauce or wasabi on my sushi. The exception to all three cases is if I'm consuming something low-quality; Lipton tea gets sugar, but I actually want to taste the genmaicha that we bought. Steak needs to be shoe leather before I'll sauce it. And at most quality sushi restaurants, anything but the most basic rolls comes with a sauce of its own; something that the chef deliberately put on it. Why would I want to overwhelm that with a generic sauce? (Sorry, sweetie - I love making sushi with you, but the stuff we make definitely counts as low-quality, which is a testament to how bloody good sushi is.)


I'm a little excited, going into this week. I'm going to have to treat wasabi differently than I've treated anything else, because it can't just be added into a dish then cooked. I'm sure I'll talk about sushi again, but I don't know if I want to do a long post on how to make sushi; I think that's something that it would be easier to learn elsewhere. There's a great Good Eats episode on the topic. My challenge is going to be to find places where I can use wasabi as a sauce, and at the same time not overwhelm my wife - who has a low tolerance for piquancy - with its heat. I'm due for a spice shopping trip, so I'll probably splurge on an ounce of pure wasabi, and do a taste test. Aside from that - I have no idea. I'll be doing a lot of research tomorrow.

By the way - I hope at least some of you did your homework and bought some fresh oregano, and hopefully some other spices as well. Don't make me come over there.