TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Sashimi is a Japanese distinctive dish that consists of slices of raw salmon. The recently spreading news about a man’s body infested with tapeworms after eating sashimi has rise doubts over the safety of eating sashimi.
Actually, sashimi is not harmful if we know the proper way to eat it. One important thing should not be left out when eating this food is the wasabi, a green paste with strong stinging taste. According to wasabi.org, wasabi contains isothiocyanate that has antimicrobial activity. Isothiocyanate prevents the growth of bacteria contained in the sashimi, including killing small microbes such as tapeworms.
However, wasabi is a quiet expensive ingredient. One kilogram of wasabi can be priced up to Rp3.8 million. The soaring price is the result of the complex growing method of wasabi. A wasabia japonica needs temperature around 15 Celcius degree in order to develop properly. After being harvested, the making process of wasabi paste is also not an easy one. Fresh aroma of wasabi could only be achieved using traditional grating device made from shark skin.
The high price and difficult making process has prompted wasabi producers in Japan to sell artificial wasabi. This is made by mixing small amount of wasabi powder with water and substitute ingredients.
“The majority of so-called wasabi is actually fake wasabi made from colored horseradish with mustard, corn flour and other stuff added,” wasabi.org wrote.
If you find ‘Hon wasabi’ written on your wasabi paste package, it means that 5th product contains more than 50 percentpure wasabi. But if it is written ‘Hon wasabi iri’, it means that the pure wasabi content is less than 50 percent.
RINDU P. HESTYA | WASABI.ORG
