Your chance to win The Ultimate Vegan Japanese Cooking Kit worth £45.
As Japanese cuisine grows in popularity, one UK producer at the forefront of the movement is The Wasabi Company. Here is your chance to win one of its Ultimate Vegan Japanese Cooking Kit worth £45.
For 10 years this pioneering family business has been cultivating the only fresh wasabi in the UK. The seed to do so was sown by a throwaway comment from a chef who was visiting the watercress beds of sister business, The Watercress Company. He happened to mention that the only other produce he’d ever seen growing in similar conditions to the watercress was wasabi, in the mountain streams of Japan.
Jon Old, Founder of The Wasabi Company explains: “We were intrigued, and on further
investigation realised we really were in a unique position to grow fresh wasabi. We were able to re-create the wild wasabi conditions in specially adapted, redundant Victorian watercress beds on our farms deep in the Dorset and Hampshire countryside.
Here we were able to experiment, mimicking mountain streams full of spring water and loaded with nutrients and minerals.”
But it wasn’t easy; there was plenty to learn to better replicate the climate and environment of the Japanese mountains.
How does wasabi grow?
Wasabi as evolved to grow in deep shade provided by the canopy of trees growing alongside the mountain streams. Too much exposure to the sun and the leaves bleach
and the plant becomes stressed. It became clear that a covering of shade was necessary, so layers of netting were built above and to the sides of the beds to provide protection.
Wasabi likes a constant flow of water delivering nutrients and dissolved oxygen, but in true Goldilocks fashion it has to be just the right amount. Slightly too much and the roots will not thrive, they will even cease to hold the plant in place and make a raft to move downstream.
Conversely, too little water flowing through the roots and the plant will dry up and grow poorly. Trial and error was the only way to find the best levels of water to allow the plants to flourish.
With all this in mind, it is perhaps no surprise that it took two years for The Wasabi Company to successfully bring the first plants to maturity.
Jon continues: “Each year we continue to learn something different, and any mistakes take a long time to put right with a two-year growth curve. Harvesting a fully mature plant is always an event as it is only when you pull the whole plant you can see what you have achieved.”
Today, The Wasabi Company cultivates tens of thousands of wasabi plants, yielding up to 2 tons of wasabi a year. Every aspect of the growing and harvesting of the wasabi is done by hand, including preparation of the fresh wasabi rhizomes used for their fiery green paste.
The Wasabi Company sells much of the fresh wasabi to high end restaurants where it is grated fresh at the table, however, increasing numbers of consumers are buying the rhizomes direct from the farm via the website too. What’s more they have developed a range of own label condiments (including a new vegan range) and even a vodka, featuring their English wasabi, many of which are Great Taste Award Winners.
But this family-owned business also curates a range of over 250 Japanese products, carefully selected from some of the best artisanal producers so that there is everything you need in one place to enjoy Japanese cuisine at home regardless of whether you’re a miso master or a Soba noodle novice.
Competition Time!
The Wasabi Company firmly believes that vegans do NOT need to miss out when it comes to experiencing the wonders of Japanese cuisine. In fact, vegan Japanese monks have been creating all vegan dishes for centuries.
They’re offering one lucky person the chance to win The Ultimate Vegan Japanese Cooking Kit worth £45.
The kit contains:
- Sudachi Kombu Ponzu/Ponzu Sauce with Sudachi and Kombu Seaweed 300ml
- White Soy Sauce 360ml
- Smoked Soy Sauce 210ml
- White Miso 500g
- Furikake with Sesame, Soy & Shiso 50g
- Okinawa Black Sugar 300g
The Wasabi Company’s vegan ponzu is packed with citrus and umami and with 3 Gold Stars at the Great Taste Awards you know the quality is going to be sublime.
White soy sauce enhances soups, sauces, marinades and countless other dishes by adding depth of flavour and white miso is famously flavoursome and versatile.
Add the booming flavour of Smoked Soy Sauce, Furikake seasoning, and the sensational richness of Okinawa sugar and this kit is going to be a huge hit in any household, vegan or not!
All products are available for delivery from thewasabicompany.co.uk and it’s well worth checking out their gift sets for the foodie in your life this Christmas.
ENTER THE WASABI COMPANY COMPETITION BY SELECTING AN ENTRY OPTION IN THE BOX BELOW
WIN The Ultimate Vegan Japanese Cooking Kit with The Wasabi CompanyDisclaimer: this competition is sponsored by The Wasabi Company.
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