Traveling is not only fun, it also teaches us quite a few things. At least if you are keen and open to learning something new. Often this process doesn't require any effort at all and you learn so much simply by walking through the world with open eyes and an open heart. There are so many interesting things to see and discover everywhere, and if you stop and look from time to time, and perhaps ask a question or two, you are usually a lot smarter at the end of the day than you were before.
For many of us, and I explicitly include myself in this, we often don't know where our food actually comes from. Of course, if we've paid even a little attention at school, we have a rough idea, but that's about it. We don't have detailed knowledge of where all the food we eat every day comes from.
And a trip to the countryside is often the perfect way to close this knowledge gap, as it quickly brings you closer to solving this question and makes it easy to combine the pleasant with the useful. Usually this happens unplanned and rather spontaneously and you might not even aware of it.
That's exactly what happened to us when we took a short trip to the Nagano region a few years ago. We were actually on our way to Matsumuto, but had planned a little stop on the way there.
We stopped at a wasabi farm, where the Japanese version of good old horseradish is grown and harvested. Wasabi may not be a staple food in Japan, but it is well-known to all sushi lovers who use it to spice up their small bites of raw fish.
But wasabi is not only used for sushi and sashimi, the Japanese also use it as a seasoning for many other dishes, and in terms of spiciness it far surpasses normal horseradish. Originally, wasabi was a wild plant that is native to swampy areas on the banks of watercourses in Japan. But today it is also cultivated in other countries, particularly in Taiwan, Korea, Israel, Thailand and New Zealand.
Eutrema japonicum_ is a grassy plant that grows to a height of 20 to 60 centimeters. The roots of the wasabi plant are then grated and used for seasoning. Genuine, natural wasabi is very expensive, especially in Europe, and is often very different from what you can buy in many stores.
Wasabi plants need cool and shady places, and this was probably the reason why the wasabi fields are all covered with black cloths to at least keep some of the heat off in the hot and humid Japanese summer.
Viewed from above, it was therefore quite an interesting sight, and at the same time showed the dimensions of this wasabi farm. Although a large amount of wasabi is still grown in Japan, apparently this is not enough to meet domestic demand, so large quantities are now imported from other countries such as Taiwan and the USA. In times of globalization, many local products are probably no longer as authentic and local as we would like to believe.
In addition to cooling shade, wasabi also needs a lot of fresh water. In nature, as I wrote before, it grows at the edge of rivers and streams, and if you look closely, our wasabi farm is actually completely under water, which was pleasantly cold on that warm summer day.
But people also work in the water here in winter, as I once saw in a documentary. The wasabi plant requires year-round care even though winter is particularly harsh here in Japan. I would like to see what it looks like here in this place at this season too and how the many plants are protected from these tough weather conditions. But that's probably reserved for another trip.
Here we can see some of the characteristic wasabi roots. Freshly grated, they must be used up quickly, otherwise they will lose their spiciness soon. I have to admit that we usually use the wasabi paste available in the stores, which is of course and unfortunately not the pure wasabi.
But at least in restaurants in the higher price and quality categories, you should be served real, pure wasabi freshly scraped from the root. Let's see if we can treat ourselves to this luxury some day in the future when we go out for sushi again. But tube wasabi is also a popular condiment for us, which not only goes well with raw fish but also with some other dishes and therefore always has a place in our household.
A wasabi farm may not be the most spectacular place you can discover in Japan, but we still like to think back to our visit there and would want to repeat it at any time. It was probably the overall atmosphere that left such a positive and pleasant impression, which can often happen when traveling. And as mentioned at the beginning, we were able to combine this pleasant experience with something useful and educational, which ultimately led to new insights. And lasting memories that I will always remember....
Cool, wußte bisher nur wie es als Paste aussieht und wie es schmeckt ;)
Ich esse es gern zu Sushi.
Angeblich gibt es im Ausland selten das "richtige" Wasabi sondern nur einen (grünen) Mix aus heimischen Meerettich. Würde mich interessieren, ob das wirklich stimmt
Hmm, k.a. habs bisher nur beim Asiaten gegessen, so selber kaufen tubich nicht, wenn würde ichs aber im Asiamarkt kaufen