The good folk at Kazari saw my review and offered to send some of their wasabi to review. Their Kazari rhizomes are imported from Japan and America, and they're about half the price of The Wasabi Company.

After months of procurement, we successfully diverted a portion of Asia's natural wasabi harvest from Tokyo's sushi bars to the UK. Our customers, including some of Europe's leading sushi chefs, love it. It really is a superior product, less harsh, subtly sweet and infinitely more refreshing than wasabi paste. So next time you buy our sushi online, be sure to try some fresh wasabi!

The sushi came very well packaged in a little thermal vest, with some cold water, and plenty of padding. Perfect for keeping it fresh and tasty.

The Look

There's no doubt, it is a thing of beauty. A green so dark it is almost black, shimmering with promise.

The Taste

The smell wasn't as pungent as the wasabi I'd tried before. It was still strong, but didn't leave my nose feeling like it had been assaulted. The taste was cooler and slightly woodier than the last fresh wasabi. Think of it as the difference between pepeprmint and spearmint.

Spread on some home made sushi it was absolute perfection - a little soy sauce to bring out the flavour and I was in taste heaven.

It really does knock the socks off the luminous green sludge which passes for wasabi in the UK.

Conclusion

The Kazari wasabi is flown in from Japan America (see comment) - which adds considerably to its food miles. The Wasabi Company grow theirs in Dorset, UK. That said, Kazari is considerably cheaper than the UK grown alternative.

Both offer an amazing taste, an experience unlike any other you've had before. Half the fun in making your own food is using the best ingredients you can find, and mixing and matching flavours to suit your palette. In a social setting, having fresh wasabi at the table shows off your gastronomic sensibilities and is a treat for the eyes and nose.

You can buy imported wasabi from Kazari.

Buy fresh wasabi in the UK. It's amazing

Fresh Wasabi? In The UK

When I was at university, I moved into a shared student home with Liz (spoiler she became my wife several years later!).

Liz was, and still is, quite the cook. However, her range of culinary equipment dumbfounded our house-mates. I once came in to the kitchen and witnessed a blazing row between her and someone who had the temerity to grate cheese in a nutmeg grater.

I didn't even know nutmeg graters existed!

I now know that, not only do they exist, they are especially poor at grating cheese.

This, of course, became a rich vein of comedy. Whenever Liz asked me to pass her a cheese grater, I would pass her the nutmeg grater! Hilarious! Ten years later and I'm still doing it.

It must be hell to live with me...

Anyway, a few years ago, I decided to buy Liz a present. Just one of those cheap "thinking of you" gifts which I periodically buy to remind her that I'm not a total dolt. I ended up in Muji and found, nestled among the kitchen tools, a wasabi grater.

(Technically, that's an Oroshigane)

Not only was it a funny gift - something new to pass her when she needed to grate Parmesan - but practical, too! All I needed to do was find an Asian supermarket which sold fresh wasabi. Easy, right?

Nope!

Turns out, nowhere outside of Japan sells wasabi. The wasabi paste we buy in this country is mostly horseradish and green food dye. The plants just don't travel well. Turning to Wikipedia....

Few places are suitable for large-scale wasabi cultivation, and cultivation is difficult even in ideal conditions.

So, for years the Oroshigane gathered dust at the bottom of a kitchen drawer. Occasionally seeing the light of day to tackle a particularly hard cheddar.

Until...

While flicking through the TV channels one morning, we happened upon some morning cookery show. The host started talking about wasabi.

"Hah!" said I, "They won't be using fresh stuff. It's impossible to get in this country."

The smarmy presenter looked into camera and said "We're using fresh wasabi which has been grown in Dorset."

WHAT!? Google google google check twitter google... AHA! The Fresh Wasabi Company. Selling UK grown wasabi. Click. Buy. Done!

Some £15 later, this arrived on our doorstep. A full rhizome of wasabi. Enough for 6 people, so the company reckons. At £2.50 per person, it's not the cheapest condiment in the world. But, what does it taste like?

Preparation

It's not quite as elaborate as a tea ceremony, but the wasabi has to be treated carefully. The instructions say it must be refrigerated as soon as it it delivered. (Ours spent the night in the sorting office and doesn't seem to be any the worse for it.)

The wasabi must be kept damp, wrapped in muslin, and stored in the fridge.

When needed, trim the end off, and scrape away the hard skin on the side. We used a standard potato peeler.

Then, grasp your Oroshigane and grind in a circular motion to create a fine paste. (Thanks to Kevin Anderson for the photos.)

Interestingly, the colour of the paste was a pale pink - rather than the luminous green that most fake wasabi is.

Finally, serve to friends with sushi.

The Taste Test

Even before the grinding, I could smell the wasabi's pungent flavour. Once the end was trimmed off our noses lit up. A simply heavenly scent.

Spread lightly on a veggie futomaki, the glistening pink paste looked oddly out of place. I guess I'm used to seeing bright green blobs.

But the taste... Oh! The taste! Words can't conjure up the magic of the flavour. Initially, it wasn't as aggressive as the pseudo-wasabi served by most restaurants. But it built in flavour and heat gradually. I didn't take enough to make my eyes water, but I could feel the potential behind it. The taste faded quickly, it didn't seem to linger much after swallowing.

Astonishing. A beautiful experience.

Is it worth it, though? Is it that much better than the shop-bought horseradish-and-preservatives pseudo-wasabi?

I suppose that it's the difference between serving Moët & Chandon and supermarket champagne. They both do the job of flavouring the sushi perfectly well - but if you care about food, you owe it to yourself to grind fresh wasabi at least one.

Buy fresh wasabi in the UK. It's amazing