Balanced hot. Did you study anything about wasabi? I quit ordering restaurant dishes with wasabi because there was so little taste of wasabi in them. I realize the stuff is expensive but why bother to put it in a dish if you have to hunt for the flavor.
I grow my own now. Takes two years or more to get a decent root so I have another year to go. I buy the powdered wasabi but they are all cut with mustard or horseradish.
Yes. It was in my research. You can get pure powdered wasabi, but, as you say, it is expensive.
Never tried planting it. I may have to try that.
/johnny