Sustainable sushi: Half Moon Bay farm grows rare wasabi plants

Becoming a wasabi farmer wasn't initially part of the career plan for former electrical contractor Jeff Roller.

But for those who know him, his pivot wasn't all that surprising, he says.

He and co-founder Tim Hall got the idea to start a wasabi farm about 15 years ago when Hall learned that most of the wasabi Americans eat is fake: Expert estimates cited in the Washington Post over a decade ago put the proportion of fake stuff at between 95% and 99% of the wasabi consumed in the U.S. The green paste that usually comes with your takeout sushi is made up of horseradish, mustard, cornstarch, food coloring and some other ingredients.

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Hall and Roller had construction backgrounds and wanted to see if they could figure out how to grow the notoriously finicky plants.

Wasabi plants generally grow best in cool climates with water flowing over the soil, and they take around two years to reach maturity.

After months of research and trial and error, they decided to start their farm, repurposing an old Coastside nursery with greenhouses dating back to the 1960s for the job. For years, they struggled to achieve consistency with the plants they grew. Every time they tried to scale up their production, a new challenge popped up, Roller says.

"We've changed the way we've grown it a bunch of times," he says.

Two years in, Roller gave up, leaving the farm to Hall, but then came back six months later. For many years, their wasabi farm was a passion project, funded by their electrical work. Now, Hall has stepped back from farming focus on parenting, but is still involved.

"There's no playbook of how to do it," Roller says.

But as they struggled, one thing kept them going: They always could sell whatever they grew, mostly to local high-end sushi restaurants and steakhouses.

Between reading a handful of academic papers and conducting lots of experiments with irrigation, lighting and more, they finally landed on a consistent system. They've been growing their wasabi the same way for seven or eight years now, Roller says.

The farm draws on sustainable farming practices like using predatory bugs to keep pests at bay and recirculating water for the fairly water-hungry plants, according to Roller. Today, they're among just a small handful of U.S.-based wasabi farmers.

The whole plants are edible, and the farm also sells the leaves and stems, which can be made into salads or chopped and marinated with soy sauce to become kizami, a condiment. The flowers, meanwhile, can be used as an edible garnish.

Then, in 2020, the pandemic threw a wrench into their business. "COVID was really difficult for us," Roller says. "We lost 90% of our business overnight."

They had to adapt quickly, pivoting to online sales and learning how to ship across the U.S. - particularly to areas where restaurants reopened ahead of the Bay Area, like Texas and Florida. They also began selling to local Japanese supermarkets.

So how do you eat it? What you'll want to eat - and what traditional wasabi is - is the wasabi plant's rhizome, or stalk at the base of the plant, grated very finely into a paste. Shredded over a special grater, the resulting flavor and color of the wasabi pastes can differ just based on which end of the rhizome you're grating, as co-owner Jim Murphy demonstrated on a recent visit to the farm. Murphy joined last year after a career in human rights work and web development.

Real wasabi oxidizes quickly. It's ideally consumed about five minutes after shredding, to let it oxidize a little bit. But it starts to lose heat within 25 minutes of grating it, he says. Those timing parameters make it difficult for many restaurants to work with, especially those serving takeout.

But after trying even just a tiny taste of the real stuff, it's obvious why it is so sought-after. The fresh, sharp, complex heat that spreads through the palate and nasal passages provides a unique sensation that's as fleeting as it is subtle.

Today, you can find locally grown wasabi from Half Moon Bay Wasabi at restaurants like Rintaro in San Francisco; Robin in San Francisco and Menlo Park; the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay; Alexander's Steakhouse locations in San Francisco, Palo Alto and Cupertino; and Katsu in Mountain View.

It's also sold at Mitsuwa Market in San Jose; Tokyo Fish Market in Berkeley; Nijiya Market locations in San Francisco, San Mateo, Mountain View and San Jose; and at the Ferry Building Farmers Market in San Francisco on the second Saturday of each month.

Half Moon Bay Wasabi also participates in occasional pop-ups at the Half Moon Bay farmers market and Pillar Point Harbor. People can also order wasabi directly online. Go to @halfmoonbaywasabi on Instagram or hmbwasabi.com for more information.

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