Wasabi Horseradish Cream Review
Ingredients
Grated Horseradish and Wasabi Roots, Water, White Distilled Vinegar, (Natural and Artificial, Soybean Oil, Mustard Seed, Sugar, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Eggs, Natural & Artificial Flavors, Salt, Modified Corn Starch, Cellulose and Xanthan Gums, Lemon Juice, Sodium Metabisulfite and Sodium Benzoate (preservatives), Citric Acid, Spices, Garlic, Paprika, Calcium Disodium ETDA (retains product freshness), Caramel Color, Turmeric, Yellow No. 5, Licorice Root, Blue No. 1, Ginger.
Other information from package
Intense, flavorful and full of heat!
Wake up the palette with this incredible sauce.
The distinctive kick of wasabi adds incredible taste to the zesty Wasabi Horseradish Sauce. Wasabi and horseradish fans will love this sauce blended into potato salad or used as a fabulous dipping sauce for grilled shrimp, chicken or vegetables. Try spreading a sliced chicken or roast beef sandwich with this intense Wasabi Horseradish Sauce for truly memorable meal.
Comment by Reviewer
This was a product that I stumbled across when searching through the supermarket aisles looking for something quite different. Do you notice how every so often the supermarket moves things around?
Anyway, I picked up this product up and paid for it after cringing a bit after reading the ingredients list. I also picked up one of their other products. The product ingredient list is below. Do you notice a distinct similarity in the ingredients used? Obviously they produce a generic base and then add other stuff to it to change the look and flavour, thereby enabling them to change the label.
In this case the “Wasabi” product was sweeter than the other and was a green colour. Apart from that I think you would be hard pressed to tell the difference. 🙁
I know, you are thinking by now – come on less waffle and more facts!
So right into it,
The product was creamy in texture but I thought it was a bit oily on the tongue – it seemed to cling to the tongue and palate and didn’t really slide down very easily. Although when I tried it with other food it was better. It was also quite sweet and not tart like I expected. There was a horseradish taste, but I didn’t get any flair up the nose that you expect with a “Wasabi” product.
Now for the Ingredients.
Grated Horseradish and Wasabi Roots – there was no indication what the percentage was between the two items. Since the wasabi roots are relatively fine and normally white with some flavour I would have thought that they would have indicated how much was in the product. They obviously don’t regard that as important and the percentage is probably extremely low and that is why they add it in with the horseradish root. The horseradish taste overwhelmed any wasabi that might have been in the product.
Water – interesting that a product called a “cream” contains absolutely no milk products at all. In fact the second most prominent ingredient is water which effectively puts the product into the vinaigrette category especially when the next ingredient is White Distilled Vinegar.
(Natural and Artificial – there is no ending bracket so I have no idea what this means. It seems to indicate that either (a) something has been missed off the label, or (b) whoever approved the label for use didn’t proof read it. Whatever the reason, it needs to be fixed by the manufacturer.
Soybean Oil – this is what is obviously giving the product its oily feel in the mouth.
Mustard Seed – Since the product was smooth and didn’t appear to have any seeds in it. I have to assume that they meant mustard flour instead.
Sugar – I am completely at a loss why anyone would add sugar to a food dressing.
High Fructose Corn Syrup – Now this really adds to the calorie count of the product and contributes to the little bit of extra weight most of us are carrying around.
Eggs – hopefully fresh eggs were used in the production of this product, but it is just as likely that they were powdered.
Natural & Artificial Flavors – now this really is the catchall. What natural and artificial flavours were used and why?
Salt –
Modified Corn Starch – Modified corn starch is typically added to processed foods such as sauces, pie fillings, and gravies. They’re not healthy in the respect that they don’t add any nutritional value to food, but they aren’t harmful. People who have gluten allergies should stay away from this ingredient though, unless a food containing it is labeled “gluten free.” There is no allergy warning on the package. This is just not acceptable.
More importantly what artificial colours were used? They mention Yellow No. 5 and Blue No. 1 which of course gives the product the green colour, but these colours have been linked to cancer.
Their other product – Horseradish Cream Sauce
Ingredients:
Grated Horseradish Root, Water, White Distilled Vinegar, Soybean Oil, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Sugar, Eggs, Modified Corn Starch, Salt, Lemon Juice, Xanthan Gum, Artificial Flavors, Sodium Metabisulfite (preservative), Citric Acid, Spices, Sodium Benzoate (preservative), Paprika, Calcium Disodium EDTA (retains product freshness)
Can you spot the difference?
The Wasabi Horseradish Cream sauce contains these ingredients as extras
Wasabi Roots, (Natural and Artificial, , Mustard Seed, Natural Cellulose Garlic, Caramel Color, Turmeric, Yellow No. 5, Licorice Root, Blue No. 1, Ginger.
Looking at them it looks like most have been added to change the colour, and the others to add a slightly different flavour. Especially with the addition of the Mustard seed and Ginger.
Conclusion and Recommendation
I did not enjoy the products. I thought they were oily and weak in flavour. Add to that the cancer causing colouring and the ambiguity of the labelling, I recommend giving these products a big thumbs down and avoid them.
If you want a wasabi flavoured spread make your own using your favourite Mayonnaise and Wasabi Powder. See a recipe here.