In honor of Earth Day, The Mercury News published a Sunday feature on sustainable sushi practices. In addition to a cool story about foraging for local sea urchins, which helps protect California’s kelp forests, the paper spoke with Half Moon Bay Wasabi about growing the infamously finicky plant domestically in the US. You can read the full article here:
Sustainable sushi: Half Moon Bay farm grows rare wasabi plants
We had a wonderful time showing reporter Kate Bradshaw and photographer Dai Sugano around our greenhouses. Neither of them had ever tasted real wasabi before. That’s not surprising given that the vast majority of wasabi served in the United States is not real wasabi. It’s usually horseradish, which may or may not contain wasabi powder, and is filled with other ingredients like cornstarch, salt, and food coloring.
Half Moon Bay Wasabi co-owners Jeff Roller, left, and Jim Murphy show one of the farm's greenhouses where wasabi is grown on March 27, 2026. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
In the photo below, Sugano captured the different color profiles each end of the wasabi stem has when grated. The end closest to the root system is a lighter green, while the end towards the petioles and leaves grates into a brighter green color. Each has a different flavor profile as well. The root end brings a bit more heat, whereas the other side has more sweet, floral tones.
Half Moon Bay Wasabi co-owner Jim Murphy demonstrates grating a wasabi root on March 27, 2026, at the farm in Half Moon Bay. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
Our wasabi plants love the Half Moon Bay climate. These temperamental plants cannot survive freezing weather, but they don’t thrive in hot climates either. Just a mile from the coast, our weather provides a cooling marine layer during the summer months and lots of sunshine throughout the winter.
Growing real wasabi in the United States also helps reduce the environmental impact associated with importing fresh wasabi from overseas. Because authentic wasabi is delicate and highly perishable, imported products often travel long distances under refrigerated conditions before reaching restaurants or home cooks. By cultivating wasabi locally on the California coast, we’re able to harvest and ship directly to customers while maintaining freshness and reducing transportation time. Domestic cultivation also gives chefs and consumers access to a product that is rarely experienced at peak quality outside of Japan, helping introduce more people to the nuanced flavors and culinary traditions surrounding authentic wasabi.
Half Moon Bay Wasabi co-owner Jim Murphy with a bundle of wasabi plants in one of the farm’s greenhouses on March 27, 2026, in Half Moon Bay, Calif. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
We are thrilled to see Bradshaw’s article get picked up by numerous other publications. The article has been syndicated by The Baltimore Sun, Salem News, The Star out of Malaysia, and The Jerusalem Post.
Gift Link
https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/04/22/half-moon-bay-farm-rare-wasabi/?share=lreumwwytwbeyrrbcrri
PDF Copy
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0714/8801/2518/files/TheMercuryNews-Real-Wasabi.pdf?v=1779993561
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