# Wasabi and Horseradish ARE related, you schmuck (my esoteric rant at TV chefs) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 6, 2002, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasabi-and-horseradish-are-related-you-schmuck-my-esoteric-rant-at-tv-chefs/112643 "2002-06-06T10:51:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2002, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasabi-and-horseradish-are-related-you-schmuck-my-esoteric-rant-at-tv-chefs/112643/21 "2002-06-06T22:13:38Z")
Mangetout, the fact remains that you offered their common family as proof that Wasabi and Horseradish are practically interchangeable. As far as that goes, you are mistaken. AS has been pointed out, roses and strawberries share a family, as do horseradish and cauliflower. THe burden is on you to show how closely you think they’re related. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2002, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasabi-and-horseradish-are-related-you-schmuck-my-esoteric-rant-at-tv-chefs/112643/22 "2002-06-07T00:15:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pulykamell \* > \*\*Actually, [here is everything you’ve ever wanted to know about wasabi.](http://www.freshwasabi.com/) Normally, wasabi should be grated freshly (using a circular motion.) Saveur magazine had a great article about a guy who figured out how to grow wasabi in Oregon. Apparently, it’s a bitch to grow. Supposedly, it goes well with filet mignon, too. > > \*\* NPR did a piece about the guy who’s growing the wasabi in Oregon. Not only is it a bitch to grow, but the guy had a bitch of a time figuring out how to do it. He had to get someone to smuggle out books and supplies from Japan, as there’s nothing available outside of Japan. Evidently, the Japanese are _pissed_ that he’s managed to do it. The guy’s had to go so far as to hire guards and surround his crops with razor wire because he’s afraid of sabotage. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2002, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasabi-and-horseradish-are-related-you-schmuck-my-esoteric-rant-at-tv-chefs/112643/23 "2002-06-07T00:56:50Z")
FWIW, potatoes are in the same genus as deadly nightshade. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2002, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasabi-and-horseradish-are-related-you-schmuck-my-esoteric-rant-at-tv-chefs/112643/24 "2002-06-07T01:47:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Steve Wright \* > \*\*Would this be… ummm… can’t remember his name… one of the plonkers on _The Best_, on BBC2? > > (I only watch it 'cause I’m waiting for the two blokes to get sick of Silvana and fillet her.) \*\* I was going to guess Mr Lloyd GrossPerson from MasterChef (if that’s still on? It’s a looooooong time since I last watched the BBC) I always thought he was a bit of a twit ---
**Author:** ![heresiarch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@heresiarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heresiarch)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2002, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasabi-and-horseradish-are-related-you-schmuck-my-esoteric-rant-at-tv-chefs/112643/25 "2002-06-07T02:47:07Z")
[Hollyhock](http://plantsdatabase.com/search.php?search_text=hollyhock) family: Malvaceae genus / species: Alcea rosea (and there might be other types of hollyhock, or plants with “hollyhock” in their name) At least Horseradish and Wasabi are in the same family. Hollyhock is not. So if TV guy had only said that Wasabi and Horseradish are not related, he’d be right (although it would be better to say “same family - different genus”). But if he goes on to say that Wasabi is a form of Hollyhock - he is totally wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2002, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasabi-and-horseradish-are-related-you-schmuck-my-esoteric-rant-at-tv-chefs/112643/26 "2002-06-07T07:53:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lissener \* > Mangetout, the fact remains that you offered their common family as proof that Wasabi and Horseradish are practically interchangeable. \*\* Where did I say anything about interchangeability? But you’ve acknowledged that they share a family, which was entirely my point, what am I supposed to be proving? ---
**Author:** ![Com2Kid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@Com2Kid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Com2Kid)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2002, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasabi-and-horseradish-are-related-you-schmuck-my-esoteric-rant-at-tv-chefs/112643/27 "2002-06-07T08:09:00Z")
WTF is wasabi anyways? Besides a commonly used catch-phrase used to sound cool online. . . . Even chefs I have asked have no idea WTF it is, LOL! horshradish is just disgusting ::shivers:: not mushrooms digusting but … taste style distgusting. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2002, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasabi-and-horseradish-are-related-you-schmuck-my-esoteric-rant-at-tv-chefs/112643/28 "2002-06-07T08:16:30Z")
Wasabi is a pungent herb, parts of which are made into a green paste which is widely used in sushi; the taste is similar in some ways to horseradish, but not entirely the same. Horseradish is fantastic (especially if it’s freshly grated). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2002, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasabi-and-horseradish-are-related-you-schmuck-my-esoteric-rant-at-tv-chefs/112643/29 "2002-06-07T08:18:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by heresiarch \* > \*\*So if TV guy had only said that Wasabi and Horseradish are not related, he’d be right (although it would be better to say “same family - different genus”). But if he goes on to say that Wasabi is a form of Hollyhock - he is totally wrong. \*\* What he said was that they are not related at all and that wasabi is actually a type of mountain hollyhock, which is plainly untrue. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2002, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasabi-and-horseradish-are-related-you-schmuck-my-esoteric-rant-at-tv-chefs/112643/30 "2002-06-08T15:04:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tuckerfan \* > \*\*NPR did a piece about the guy who’s growing the wasabi in Oregon. Not only is it a bitch to grow, but the guy had a bitch of a time figuring out how to do it. He had to get someone to smuggle out books and supplies from Japan, as there’s nothing available outside of Japan. Evidently, the Japanese are _pissed_ that he’s managed to do it. The guy’s had to go so far as to hire guards and surround his crops with razor wire because he’s afraid of sabotage. \*\* First of all, yeah, Holly **h** ock. Don’t ask me how “Hollycock” got into my writing. I just checked my issue of Saveur and the site I link to is evidently the same company that was profiled in the magazine. Basically, the story said that the Japanese though it was kinda funny that this Westerner was trying to figure out how to grow wasabi in the States. They assumed at first that it was next to impossible, so they showed him the basics. Once the guy from Oregon started asking more and more questions, the Japanese got clued in and figured out this guy knew what he was talking about, so they got real quiet real fast. Also, the article mentions that wasabi is more closely related to watercress than horseradish, although all are part of the mustard family. I’m not sure how they figure wasabi is more closely related to watercress than horseradish, as all are from three different genera, but that’s what they wrote. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2002, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasabi-and-horseradish-are-related-you-schmuck-my-esoteric-rant-at-tv-chefs/112643/31 "2002-06-08T22:19:38Z")
Watercress has similar habitat requirements to Wasabi (although that may mean precisely nothing about their closeness of relation); genera are often grouped because of similarities that set them apart from others in the same family, for example the pea family (Leguminosae) is divided into subfamilies Caesalpinioideae, Mimosoideae and Papilionoideae. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2002, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasabi-and-horseradish-are-related-you-schmuck-my-esoteric-rant-at-tv-chefs/112643/32 "2002-06-11T14:29:50Z")
I read an article yesterday in the Vancouver Sun indicating that I had never had real wasabi with my sushi-- and that some guy in town is trying to grow sea wasabi in his secret greenhouse. It’s apparently even harder to grow than the land wasabi being raised in Oregon. And I know those are the real names-- I’m just blanking… The article said authentic wasabi goes for $200 a kilo. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wasabi-and-horseradish-are-related-you-schmuck-my-esoteric-rant-at-tv-chefs/112643.md?page=1)