COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • FEBRUARY 2020
43 Wasabi a hot option for wellness products
The challenging crop has a bright future, say growers
by RONDA PAYNE ABBOTSFORD – Being able
to offer a unique grown-in-BC crop has led an Abbotsford greenhouse grower and another on Malcolm Island to a hot new opportunity. Wasabi, made from the
root of Japanese horseradish, Wasabia japonica, has been a traditional condiment in Asia for centuries. It also features in traditional herbal medicines. Now, thanks to a quest for
a crop that would let them stand out in the market, the Voth family of Abbotsford’s Merom Farms Ltd. is finding success with the spicy root. Merom has produced
greenhouse-grown bell peppers for 20 years but began exploring wasabi about eight years ago. “Peppers is still our main
crop,” says Mark Voth. “A small part of the greenhouse is dedicated to wasabi.” In addition to leading
Merom, Voth is president of Wowsabi, formed eight years ago to grow, process and market wasabi. Wowsabi sales manager
David Slader says he accepted the challenge to identify a new crop for the greenhouse. Saffron was one option, but wasabi won out. “We wanted something that was difficult to grow, carried a high value … and something that we could bring our considerable growing expertise upon,” he explains. Greenhouse production
offered a controlled environment that promised to address many of the challenges facing the crop in the field, where losses can be as high as 90% according to Slader. Wowsabi’s growing system focuses on low-input methods for a high-quality, natural product. Wowsabi tried growing in gravel and other media but now uses
Farming wasabi takes a dedicated hand. At Wowsabi, farmers Harry Otsuki and Tara Lynn Matiuk use research from Laila Benkrima, right, to ensure the best crop possible. RONDA PAYNE FILE PHOTO
only soil. “There was tremendous trial and error that went on with this,” notes Slader. Wasabi takes 12 to 24 months to reach maturity. Humidity, temperature and soil pH must all be in the right ranges to produce the best possible crop. The leaves, stem and root are harvested at maturity.
Disease susceptibility is
high. Vulnerable to disease
Laila Benkrima, lead scientist with Wowsabi, notes wasabi is especially susceptible to root rot, bacteria rot and powdery mildew. She has been growing organic wasabi at the Surrey-based BioPods at John Volken Academy in her roll as a contract horticulture instructor and scientist with the University of the Fraser Valley.
Aphids, caterpillars and moths are all potential insect pests. Benkrima keeps them at bay using both beneficial insects as well as pesticides,
many of which are organic. Pacific Coast Wasabi
president and chief science officer Brian Oates grows his crop in greenhouses on Malcolm Island, northeast of Port McNeill.
He does so using non-soil-
based, hydroponic growing methods. He has been researching wasabi growing practices for about 25 years and began producing a commercially viable product about seven years ago. He says Pacific Coast Wasabi is the largest sawa-wasabi (water-based) growing operation outside of Japan. Alternatively, Wowsabi’s methods would be considered hatake, or soil- based. “It’s not your traditional
hydroponics,” Oates says. “The growing intellectual property is not something you want to share.” Both Wowsabi and Pacific
Coast Wasabi recognize the challenges the crop poses, noting that upwards of a dozen companies have attempted to grow wasabi in
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we do ours,” notes Slader. Combined, the two companies grow a total of about three acres. It’s a small crop certainly, but the idea of BC-grown wasabi is still very new.
Oates says success comes
down to identifying issues and dealing with them. “You’ve got to figure out what [the issue] is and fix it before it destroys the crop,” he says. “Unless you have huge budgets, you have to basically put out fires as they start. What’s basically caused the end of everyone else out there is they’ve been unable to fix those problems.”
Market challenges Slader originally believed
high-end sushi restaurants would be a viable market for the crop. High-end restaurants value the true Japanese horseradish and
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grate the roots to create wasabi rather than using (the common dyed) horseradish Amoracia rusticana. Demand was too low to make it a sustainable option, however. “There was a pretty excited
reception,” says Slader. “But a restaurant might go through a kilo a month.” Now, like Pacific Coast,
Wowsabi is focused on the health and wellness sector. Wasabi supplements helped treat cancer in members of the Voth family and Slader began developing wasabi capsules, plain and with green tea extract, and a muscle cream. The products launched five years ago. Pacific Coast Wasabi still
provides fresh wasabi to the restaurant industry. It also sells wasabi powder and will launch a wasabi oil in a few months.
Slader says the
opportunities for BC-grown wasabi have not yet been fully realized. “But we’re comfortable that the opportunity is coming,” he says.
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