Azumino Hon-Wasabi

Grated wasabi paste made with genuine Japanese hon-wasabi (Wasabia japonica) grown in Azumino, Nagano — a valley fed by snowmelt from the Northern Alps, and one of the few places in Japan with water clean and cold enough to grow wasabi properly.

Most of what is sold as wasabi is horseradish with green colouring. This is not that. Real wasabi behaves differently: the heat rises straight into the nose and vanishes within seconds, leaving a clean herbal sweetness rather than the throat-catching bitterness a cheap imitation leaves behind.

It is kept refrigerated rather than shelf-stable, which is the whole reason it still tastes like fresh wasabi. Heat and time are what kill the aroma, and this has been kept away from both.

Why Choose It?

• Genuine hon-wasabi: real Japanese wasabi, not coloured horseradish.
• Azumino, Nagano: snowmelt spring water, and one of Japan's best regarded growing areas.
• Refrigerated, not shelf-stable: which is why the aroma survives.
• Clean heat: sharp in the nose, gone in seconds, no bitter finish.
• No grating: within seconds of freshly ground, without the sharkskin board.

How To Use It:

• Sashimi and sushi: a small amount on the fish, not stirred into the soy.
• Soba: into the dipping broth at the end.
• Steak: a dab on beef, with a little salt — better than it sounds.
• Mixed in: through mayonnaise, dressings or a cream sauce.

The One Rule:
Do not stir it into your soy sauce. The aroma is volatile and disappears in seconds — put it on the fish and dip the other side.

Storage:
Keep refrigerated at all times. Close the cap tightly after opening and use it reasonably quickly — the flavour fades from the day you open it.

Actual wasabi, which most people have never tried. Order now.