Real Wasabi Snack & Cocktail Nuts: Hot Stuff

CAPSULE REPORT: We never met a Real Wasabi product we didn’t like. With its new line of wasabi-flavored cocktail nuts, the company is tied with Palette Fine Foods for top honors, with most Top Picks Of The Week (three). The majority of people who eat sushi don’t realize that the wasabi served to them typically is not real wasabi (Wasabia japonica), but a far less expensive mixture of ordinary horseradish root and mustard. And, as with the finest craft brew versus a mass-market beer, there’s a big difference in taste. You can read more about real versus imitation wasabi in our review of authentic wasabi powder (you mix it with water to create the paste, just as they do at sushi bars) from Real Wasabi.

Now about those wasabi nuts. Available in six-ounce cans in Wasabi Almonds, Wasabi Cashews, Wasabi Pistachios and Wasabi Mixed Nuts, these elegantly “warm” (not fiery hot) nuts will wow with beer, cocktails or as garnishes—chopped or whole atop goat cheese canapés or tossed into a chicken salad, for example. They have just the right touch of wasabi: enough to assert itself, but not enough to cover up the excellent quality of the nuts. The cans make colorful stocking stuffers and a welcome addition to a gift basket.

We’d like to give a shout out to Doug Lambrecht, founder of Real Wasabi, for bringing real wasabi to more Americans beyond the handful who have experienced it fresh-grated in the country’s most elite sushi bars. Now do your part: Get to know all of the Real Wasabi products. See the delicious wasabi nut varieties close up in the full review below. The nuts are all-natural and certified kosher by OU.

• Read reviews of more of our favorite
  gourmet nuts and other snacks.
• See the Table of Contents of the
  September issue of THE NIBBLE, plus the
  prior issues archive and our most popular
  articles.
• All of the Top Pick Of The Week
  newsletters are permanently archived on
  TheNibble.com, in chronological order and
  by product category.
• See our daily notes of interest on
  Blog.TheNibble.com.

INDEX OF REVIEW

• Page 1: Introduction
• Page 2: Real Wasabi Nut Varieties
• Page 2: Serving Suggestions
• Page 3: Health Benefits Of Nuts
  & Wasabi
• Page 3: Buy Real Wasabi Nuts Online
• Page 3: Other “Top Pick Of The
  Week” Gourmet Nut Snacks
• Review Of Real Wasabi Powder
• Review Of Real Wasabi Condiments

MORE TO DISCOVER

• THE NIBBLE’s Snacks Section
• Product Pick #2: Crystal Noodle Soups
  Quality comes to the ramen noodle soup. These quick, hot meals-in-a-bowl are great for work or instant comfort food, as long as you like salt and pepper.
• Recipe: Roast Figs With Honey
  Celebrate the end of National Honey Month with this easy, light and special recipe that can be served at brunch, lunch or dinner.

Introduction

Originating in the mountains of Japan, Wasabia Japonica now grows in the cool, shady mountainous areas of China and Korea, in the rainforests of coastal Oregon, in parts of the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee, and in New Zealand. But it isn’t easy to grow real wasabi, which makes it expensive. That’s why an imitation wasabi has been made from common horseradish (Amoracia rusticana, a botanical cousin) mixed with mustard, cornstarch and food coloring. Most “wasabi” isn’t the real deal, alas, and most products claiming to be “wasabi” aren’t.

Why should you care? Once you’ve tasted the real thing, there’s no going back. Imagine if your only reference to coffee were instant coffee, and one day you tasted a cup brewed from real ground beans. Put a great Cheddar next to Velveeta. You get the picture.