Cheap copy: That's why wasabi is almost never real wasabi!

The cutting spiciness of wasabi is not to everyone's taste, yet the green paste is internationally popular. What hardly anyone knows is that what ends up on our plates rarely has anything to do with real wasabi.

Green treat: Wasabi is part of a good sushi snack for many.

Sushi with wasabi, wasabi coating for nuts, wasabi as a flavoring for potato chips: The green plant from Asia is culinary also in the West popular as never before. At least that's what we think: in truth, what we call wasabi is merely a cheap copy of the original. That's right: even good restaurants often simply serve the so-called surrogate, i.e. a substitute product. But how can we be so deceived? And how do we recognize that we are just dipping our snacks in real wasabi and not a cheap substitute? In fact, recognizing fake sushi is not as easy as recognizing fake black olives, for example.

This is why manufacturers cheat with wasabi

Wasabi is a cruciferous plant and thus belongs to the same family as radish and horseradish, but wasabi is precisely not a radish, even if the common names Japanese horseradish or water radish suggest otherwise. Wasabi and radish are about as close as a lion and a tiger. As with fake wholemeal bread, the reason for cheating is simple: It's about money. Because the root of the wasabi plant, which is used to make the aromatic paste, is expensive. Much more expensive than the frequently used alternatives. 350 euros per kilo is not uncommon here. What we know as wasabi is much cheaper. Often, only one percent of the paste consists of the natural product that gives it its name.

False wasabi: That's what's in the green paste

In stores and restaurants, a mixture called Seiyō wasabi in Japan is used almost without exception. This means "western wasabi." It is usually a mixture of radish or horseradish, mustard and other substances. Included: starch, canola oil, citric acid, brilliant blue and the controversial tartrazine. In order to be allowed to use the term wasabi, usually only minimal proportions of wasabi powder or similar are found in these pastes.

How to recognize fake wasabi

The real wasabi, on the other hand, is an almost natural part of the plant. If you like it traditional, use the tuber directly at the table with a grater - this is the purest form of wasabi. But pastes and powders are also on the market, these are often enriched only with water. The term Hon Wasabi serves as a mark of high quality products. If a product bears this designation, at least 50 percent (real) wasabi is required. How to recognize fake wasabi:

1. Ingredients: In the supermarket, it is very easy to distinguish real from fake wasabi thanks to the list of ingredients. If pure wasabi is not the main ingredient, you already know.
2. Appearance: The horseradish-mustard mixture has no natural green color. The coloring additives tartrazine and brilliant blue mix to the familiar, bright green of the wasabi paste. Real wasabi, however, is not gaudy at all - you want a delicate mint!
3. Smell: A hint of essential oils accompanies real wasabi. Light yet complex. The imitate smells intensely of radish in most cases.
4. Taste: In terms of taste, real wasabi and the radish mustard paste also do not have much in common. The inferior Seiyō Wasabi (for us Wessis) tastes distinctly acidic-hot. Hon Wasabi is considered more subtle and complex. Here, sweet notes also characterize the rather mild-hot taste.

For professionals: the Wasabi UV test

The UV test can be used to clearly determine the authenticity of wasabi.

Want to be absolutely sure? There is a trick how you identify genuine wasabi beyond doubt. To do this, all you need is a UV lamp (order here on Amazon) and a solvent such as nail polish remover (you can find it among Amazon's bestsellers). Use the nail polish remover to dissolve the wasabi (paste/powder) in it. Illuminated with the UV lamp, there are now two possibilities: the liquid glows reddish or in a shrill green-yellow.

• Red: Real wasabi
• Green-yellow: False wasabi

But why is that? The answer is hidden in the natural ingredients of the ingredients. False wasabi usually contains mustard - this provides the yellow-green coloration in UV light. By the way, horseradish and wasabi themselves do not glow when the product is directly illuminated. However, natural chlorophyll is found in wasabi - and this, in turn, glows in the said red under UV light in the dissolved variant.

Hon Wasabi

Zum Angebot bei Drucken