The mustard you eat may be fake! 1 trick to help you choose the right one →

Remember the first time you ate mustard?

A "nuclear explosion" in your nasal cavity will make your nose and tears burst out. It's possible that you will be unable to breathe for a while. However, it may not be real mustard that makes you experience this hell, but horseradish .

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Aren't horseradish and mustard the same thing?

Not really.

What is mustard?

Mustard has existed in ancient China. The original mustard referred to powder or sauce made from mustard seeds . Later, people discovered that wasabi sauce in Japanese food also has a spicy taste similar to mustard. In order to distinguish them, people called mustard seed sauce yellow mustard and wasabi sauce green mustard according to their color.

However, wasabi is a delicate and expensive product, with extremely high requirements for light and water temperature , and it can only be harvested once every 16-20 months[1]. As a result, wasabi production is very low and its price is naturally more expensive.

Considering the cost, many stores do not provide real wasabi, but use horseradish instead .

Horseradish is very cheap, and more importantly, it has a spicy taste similar to mustard seeds and wasabi. Therefore, "smart" people dyed horseradish sauce green (originally yellow) to impersonate wasabi sauce, and horseradish sauce became popular.

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Therefore, when you buy wasabi sauce online, you need to pay attention to the ingredient list to see whether it is wasabi sauce or horseradish sauce. For example, in the product below, horseradish is listed first in the ingredient list, and wasabi is listed at the end, indicating that the main ingredient is horseradish rather than wasabi.

What should I use for wasabi sauce?

How to choose?

If you want to buy Japanese wasabi overseas, it is recommended that you choose wasabi marked with "「本わさび用」". This mark means that it contains more than 50% wasabi. If it is marked with "「本わさび入り」", it means that some wasabi has been added, but the content is less than 50%[4].

If it is domestically produced, you can also look at the ingredient list, because the ingredient list is arranged by content. If wasabi is listed first, it means that the amount of wasabi used is not low. (Note that wasabi is not the same as Western wasabi . If it is marked as Western wasabi, it is actually horseradish.)

So if this is the case, we can rest assured when we go to a Japanese restaurant in Japan, right?

The bad news is that even in Japan, less than 10% of sushi restaurants serve real wasabi sauce.[2]

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However, we can’t blame the merchants for being unscrupulous. In fact, in addition to its high cost, wasabi has another disadvantage: once the wasabi stems are rubbed into a paste, its unique taste can only be maintained for about 15 minutes [3], so it must be eaten as soon as possible after being rubbed.

Although using vinegar and lemon juice can make the taste of wasabi sauce last longer, it will mix other flavors into the wasabi sauce. In this case, it is better to use horseradish, which is more durable, instead of wasabi.

Although wasabi is more expensive than horseradish and looks more premium, in fact, if you just like the spicy taste of wasabi, horseradish is more recommended .

Mustard seeds, wasabi, and horseradish are so spicy because they all contain a class of compounds called "isocyanates." It is this type of substance that causes the "nuclear explosion" in your nasal cavity.

The amount of “nuclear explosive” substances in mustard seeds is often only one-third of that in wasabi and horseradish , so if you want something exciting, don’t go for yellow mustard.[5]

The difference in the amount of “nuclear” substances in wasabi and horseradish is very small, so for the sake of your wallet, if you want to experience a “nuclear” explosion in your nasal cavity, just use horseradish [6].

Although the total amount of "nuclear explosion" materials is similar, wasabi and horseradish each have their own special ingredients, and they have slightly different tastes. Now, many places in our country have begun to grow wasabi, and the price of wasabi is much cheaper than in the past. If you like to taste food carefully, you can experience the difference between wasabi and horseradish yourself when you have the chance!

References:

[1]Miles CA, Chadwick C I. Growing wasabi in the Pacific Northwest[M]. Washington State University Extension, 2008.

[2]https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/10/15/why-the-wasabi-sushi-restaurants-serve-is-almost-never-actual-wasabi/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.9aea88624266

[3]https://www.nationalgeographic.com/people-and-culture/food/the-plate/2015/05/12/wasabi-more-than-just-a-hot-sushi-condiment/

[4]https://www.sbfoods.co.jp/customer/detail/00434.html

[5]Marton MR, Lavric V. A simple method for the quantification of isothiocyanates from mustard[J]. Science Bulletin, 2013, 1(75): 63-72.

[6]Sultana T, Savage GP, McNeil DL, et al. Comparison of flavor compounds in wasabi and horseradish[J]. J. Food Agric. Environ, 2003, 1: 117-121.

Author: Tian Dawei

Review | Wang Kang, Director of the North Science Museum of the National Botanical Garden, Professor-level Senior Engineer

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