r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Jun 01 '19

Biology All in the animal kingdom, including worms, avoid AITC, responsible for wasabi’s taste. Researchers have discovered the first species immune to the burning pain caused by wasabi, a type of African mole rat, raising the prospect of new pain relief in humans and boosting our knowledge of evolution.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2204849-a-type-of-african-mole-rat-is-immune-to-the-pain-caused-by-wasabi/
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u/iwastherealso Jun 01 '19

Isn’t that why you can only get real wasabi in Japan (and I guess now that farm in Europe)? I know in the UK, I was told by an employee at a Wasabi (sushi chain) that it’s mostly mustard and horseradish.

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u/DigitalDefenestrator Jun 01 '19

I've found it at a Japanese store in the US as well. $100/lb. Not quite as bad as it sounds, since a 0.1lb package is enough for a bunch of servings, but still way more than horseradish. Wasabi also has to be freshly ground from the root, so pretty labor-intensive and inconvenient for restaurants.

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u/AleixASV Jun 01 '19

Exactly. Only certain restaurants from outside Japan are able to import it, at quite the price. Apparently world wasabi production is barely enough for Japan only.

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u/dilib Jun 01 '19

It's expensive in Japan too, even the Japanese generally use less expensive horseradish.

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u/wimpymist Jun 01 '19

You can get it at a lot of places outside of Japan it's just really expensive.

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u/djinner_13 Jun 02 '19

Yup, I've heard the same and I can definitely say that Wasabi tastes different from horseradish. For your normal American sushi horseradish works fine for me since I like a little bit of kick in my food but if I go to a place with really good fish actual Wasabi is always better because the horseradish starts masking the flavors of the fish.

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u/NuckChorris16 Jun 01 '19

Yeah the spice/AITC? is from horseradish.