I have been growing wasabi for the past three years on the east coast of Vancouver Island (zone 8+). I ordered the plants from Richters in Ontario. It is an interesting plant to grow. We use the leaves in salads from time to time. There are some challenges to growing it so I would like to connect to other people growing wasabi.
wow cool. sounds like a interesting project. have you eaten any yet? sorry I am not the person you are looking for as I have never grown it but I would love to hear how you turn dirt, sunlight and water into that stuff I eat with sushi. On a similar note does anyone grow ginger?
What you are probably eating with your sushi is a horse radish dish used to imitate the taste of wasabi. Apparently the cost of wasabi is over $100 a kilo and hard to come by. Yes, I have eaten the leaves. Nice hot flavor for a leaf, but a very good taste quality. Apparently the stems are also used. I will have to do some homework and find a recipe for a dip or spread. Should be interesting. Regarding the ginger, a garden center near Victoria had a pot in water growing ginger. The plant was about 4' tall with half a dozen shoots. Interesting plant. It must grow like a bog plant but I have had little experience with it. I would try it in a pot of peat moss with a dish of water under the pot. Keep it wet and warm in a bright location. Try a piece from the grocery store and see if it works! It's always fun to try these things.
I grew several hunderd wasabi plants indoors on flood tables about 5 years ago. I've also seen it grown on a large scale in the Fraser Valley. One farm grew them in a deciduous forest setting and another in large greenhouses. All methods seemed to work well but they each had their challenges. Pests, and in my case, fungus seemed to be the biggest problems but good farming practices can reduce these to managable levels. I found it easy to propogate with a very high success rate. It's a great product, different from store bought which, as has been mentioned, is colored horseradish. A friend of mine brought a wasabi grater from Hawaii where it is more commonly seen, an essential tool to get a smooth creamy paste. He also made wasabi gelato from the leaves, good stuff.