Wasabi is a Japanese plant used to create the eponymous spicy green paste, a staple of Japanese culinary tradition and widely used in the West. It grows wild in cold, mountainous environments near to rivers and streams, but it has also been cultivated for centuries: in recent years, however, wasabi crops have been severely threatened by rising temperatures, and there is now a risk that in the future the plant may disappear completely.
In most cases, the wasabi we find in western restaurants and in shops is a hybrid of wasabi and horseradish dyed green, because the plant used to make the traditional accompaniment to sushi is very delicate and rather difficult to grow, requiring specific techniques and climatic conditions.
The prefecture of Shizuoka, south-west of Tokyo, is one of the main areas where the crop is grown. According to data from the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Fisheries taken from the New York Times, in the last ten years the amount of wasabi produced in the prefecture of Shizuoka has fallen by over 50%, due to climate change and human activity which have altered the ideal conditions in which wasabi grows.
