Quote Originally Posted by Eden View Post
Yoshi spoils us

Uwajimaya (a large local Japanese grocery) up here has piles of them in the fall. They range from about $48 to $90 per pound depending on the grade. If you only buy one or two it doesn't seem so outrageous..... (Yoshi tells me the big ones, while not being the favored A grade, taste just as good).

I can also get *real* fresh wasabi root there. Now that is something special - absolutely nothing like the green colored horseradish that every restaurant serves. I can understand - the stuff is way, way too pricey to give away like that, also around $90 a pound, but again you only need a little piece and its worth it once a year or so. It's grown down in Oregon. There was even an article in Saveur magazine about the owners of the farm and how they employed Japanese women to do a bit of undercover work for them to find out how to grow the plants. The farmers wouldn't tell them the Americans anything, but couldn't fathom that these Japanese ladies could possibly be doing a bit of "agricultural espionage".
Real wasabi is very different than the green colored horseradish very true. Its milder and has a bit of citrusy feel to it. Natural habitat is on a edge of a clear cold stream. The tap root takes like 5? years to grow.

Well for consolation I do have sansho trees. They were illegal up untill 2005 to grow here in the states.

I think you'll really love the ground sansho pepper. Nothing like it. Bit of sharpness like ginger but not as strong. it is very aromatic, intoxicating-ly refreshing scent similar to citrus scent yet very different. SPICE hmmm sounding lot like Sci Fi novel "Dune".