Seven years ago Sharon, Head Gardener, brought a small Wasabi plant at a local nursery and tucked it away in a back corner of our City Farmer Demonstration Garden. This spring I noticed how beautiful its leaves looked and thought – wouldn’t it be great if this was more than just a decorative plant. But is it anything like the Wasabi we eat with our sushi at Japanese restaurants?

Maria takes the taste test. Watch the video above.

Learn more about Wasabi here.

Photo: Jan Stradtmann’s ghostly image of an illuminated Manor Garden allotment shed.

The story will air June 26th on NPR’s Morning Edition.
The story is about the (former) Manor Garden Allotments in East London, which were bulldozed in October, 2007 to make way for the 2012 London Olympics.

“On Thursday, June 26, Hidden Kitchens travels to London to explore the tradition of urban communal garden plots known as allotments. Wedged in between buildings, planted in abandoned open spaces, carved into hillsides, scattered across the city by the hundreds, these plots of open space have been reserved for neighborhood gardening since the industrialization of England when rural people poured into the city.

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