I couldn't believe my eyes. I was wandering around my local garden centre looking for tomato plants when I spotted a familiar shaped plant. I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was – an odd type of rhubarb, perhaps.

I went closer to read the label. Surely not! Wasabia Japonica. A proper wasabi plant.

Now, I have been lucky enough to visit the top area for wasabi in Japan, the Izuu peninsula south of Mount Fuji, and seen a whole mountain valley filled with wasabi plants. I'd learned how temperamental wasabi was to cultivate, requiring a constant source of running water kept at a temperature of around twelve-thirteen degrees celcius. The plants literally sit on the bed of a shallow river, bringing the softest cleanest water down from the mountain top.

How on earth could wasbi grow in a pot, in Europe? Well, it does, and here's the proof:

 Not sure what to do with it now. I've nibbled a leaf, and it tastes just like the ones I tried in Japan – where they pickle them and use them in salads. But I am itching to dig it up and see what the root is like. There is nothing like fresh grated wasabi root – as I say in the book, it is to the fake, sinus-scorching Kermit green paste you usually get in sushi restaurants in the west, as fake snow is to the real stuff.

Looks like my treasured but seldom used shark skin-covered wasabi grater will be seeing some use soon…