Looking for horseradish, preferably fresh but frozen will do, but not prepared (as in horseradish sauce). It's a long shot but if anybody would know it would be you lot!

I want to make red horseradish sauce (using beets, which are readily available here, cooked and grated for the color) and would be happy to consider an alternative but so far the regional radishes I've found here such as the daikon don't have the punch necessary.

Now that I'm thinking about it maybe wasabi would work (anyone seen it sold fresh here?) or could sub red radishes? Any thoughts??

From reading reviews the place we are eating on Monday has fresh wasabi, maybe you can pick some up there?

Wasabi is difficult to cultivate, and that makes it quite expensive. Due to its high cost, a common substitute is a mixture of horseradish, mustard, starch and green food coloring. Outside of Japan, it is rare to find real wasabi plants.

reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasabi

Wasabi is difficult to cultivate, and that makes it quite expensive. Due to its high cost, a common substitute is a mixture of horseradish, mustard, starch and green food coloring. Outside of Japan, it is rare to find real wasabi plants.

reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasabi

With all due respect, Rice_King, much of the wiki data is out of date. For the past several years wasabi has been extensively farmed on both the East and West coasts of the US. The Oregon coast, Washington state, and the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina have seen a number of commercial wasabi 'farms' come into production. Two years ago, a British company started selling UK-grown wasabi also. Australia has been growing and selling it commercially for the past 12 years.

Interestingly right after reading FolkGuitar's post this was on my FB feed

http://www.newser.com/story/196083/this-may-be-the-worlds-most-vexing-profitable-plant.html

http://www.siskiyou-county-online.com/Tulelake.html

Tulelake, California claims to grow 1/3 of the world's supply.