Wasabi Wasabi facts
While investigating facts about Wasabi Wasabi, I found out little known, but curios details like:
Japanese researchers have created a fire-alarm for the deaf. It’s a gadget that emits a wasabi mist which will wake the endangered person and get them out of the building alive!
Wasabi is sometimes referred to as "Japanese horseradish". In Japan, horseradish is referred to as "western wasabi".
In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 50 of the best facts about Wasabi Wasabi I managed to collect.
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Japanese researchers have created a fire-alarm for the deaf. It's a gadget that emits a wasabi mist which will wake the endangered person and get them out of the building alive!
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A company in Japan developed a smoke alarm specifically designed for those with hearing impairments that uses wasabi odour instead of a loud noise. Tests on sleeping people with normal or no hearing show the device waking all of the subject in just two and a half minutes.
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Researchers in Japan came up with a fire alarm that emits the pungent odour of wasabi to alert people with hearing impairments of a fire. They tested this on 14 subjects, and 13 of them, including 4 deaf subjects, woke up within 2 minutes. It turned out that the 14th subject had a blocked nose.
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Due to wasabi's high cost, most 'wasabi' is actually mixture of horseradish, mustard, starch and green food coloring.
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Wasabi was originally eaten with sushi to kill bacteria and parasites in the fish. Now with better sanitary conditions it's not needed and eaten just out of habit
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Wasabi vapour has an effect similar to smelling salts, a property which has been exploited to create smoke alarms for the deaf.
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Almost all wasabi sold in the US is just mustard and horseradish.
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Japanese researchers created a smoke alarm for the hard of hearing that pumps super-spicy wasabi mist into the air.
What is true about wasabi wasabi?
You can easily fact check it by examining the linked well-known sources.
Most of the wasabi you've eaten is likely just horseradish and food dye
Japan created a fire alarm for deaf people. This device works by spraying vaporized wasabi into the air. - source
Wasabi is typically a mix of European horseradish, mustard, and food coloring as authentic wasabi loses flavor in 15 minutes
Most of the wasabi served outside of Japan is mostly just horseradish with green food coloring, not the true Wasabia Japonica.
99% of the wasabi consumed in the world is not actually wasabi, it’s horseradish + green food colouring. Real wasabia japonica is one of the most expensive crops to grow and is a temperamental semiaquatic herb native to the mountain streams of central Japan.
Wasabi was originally paired with sushi not because of flavor, but because of its antibacterial and anti-parasitic properties.
Most 'wasabi' sold outside Japan is really horseradish with green food coloring added. If it contains '5%' wasabi plant, they can call it 'wasabi'. The part added is usually the leaf, which does not have the wasabi flavor at all.
Wasabi and Ginger are more then a spice to eat with your sushi, but they are also a natural antibiotic. This is important in combination with raw fish because it protects your body against foodborne illnesses such as E. coli.
The wasabi we eat in the US is fake. Real Wasabi is hard to cultivate and expensive to mass produce
