Pickled Ginger

Pickled ginger is sweet, thinly sliced young ginger, which is marinated in a solution of sugar and vinegar. It is known as gari and is served and eaten after sushi. In some places it is also known as sushi ginger. The commercially made one is artificially colored pink to promote sales, however, the naturally made product is typically pale yellow to slightly pink hue from the pickling process. It is eaten between sushi to help cleanse the palate.

How to Make Pickled Ginger

When you make sushi, you may want to make pickled ginger as well. It will help you to clean your mouth and enhance the flavors. To make pickle ginger, it is recommended, you use fresh young ginger.

Recipe 1
This is an authentic recipe to make pickled ginger.

Ingredients

• Fresh Young Ginger 2 lbs
• Rice Vinegar 3 cups
• Sugar 2 cups
• Salt 2 tsp

Method

• Wash ginger root and rub the skin off.
• Now thinly slice the ginger and sprinkle salt over it and keep it aside for an hour.
• Then place the salted ginger slices on paper towels.
• Dry the slices and put them in a sterilized jar.
• In a pan bring rice vinegar and sugar to a boil.
• Pour the hot vinegar and sugar mixture over the ginger slices.
• Let it cool and then tightly cover the jar.
• Store the jar in the refrigerator.
• If you are using old ginger the color of the pickled ginger will not turn to pink, but if you are using young ginger it will change to pink.

Recipe 2
This is one of the different ways of making pickled ginger. This recipe makes use of mirin and sake. Mirin is a sweet rice wine that is used only for cooking, while sake is rice wine, that often accompanies sushi.

Ingredients

• Ginger Root 8 oz
• Rice Vinegar 90 ml
• Mirin 2 tbsp
• Sake 2 tbsp
• Sugar 5 tsp

Method

• Scrub ginger under running water to remove any impurities from it. Scrub the ginger the same way, you would scrub a potato for baking.
• Blanch the ginger in boiling water for a minute and drain immediately.
• Combine mirin, sake and sugar in a sauce pan and bring it to a boil.
• Stir till sugar has dissolved, remove from the heat and cool it.
• Place the ginger into a sterilized jar and pour the mirin, sake, sugar mixture over the ginger.
• Cover the jar and keep it aside for 3 to 4 days.
• This pickled ginger can be stored for up to a month in the refrigerator.
• The pink color will develop as the pickle ages.

Recipe 3
This is a different version of making pickled ginger.

Ingredients

• Fresh Young Ginger 500 grams
• Coarse Salt 3 tsp
• Caster Sugar cup
• Rice Wine Vinegar 1 tbsp
• Toasted Sesame seeds for garnishing

Method

• Peel the skin off the ginger and cut into thin slices.
• Put the ginger into boiling water and blanch for 20 seconds, remove immediately and drain well.
• Now put the ginger into a shallow bowl and sprinkle salt on it.
• Wait for 10 minutes before you strain off any extracted juices and place the ginger in a jar.
• In a sauce pan combine vinegar and sugar and bring to a boil.
• Spoon the sugar vinegar mixture over the ginger.
• Seal the jar and refrigerate.
• Serve the pickled ginger with sesame seeds.
• It can be stored up to a month in the refrigerator.

There are many health benefits that this pickle has to offer. One of the most important health benefits is that it destroys parasites in the body. If you are worried about nutrition facts, then you should not be. As there are only 9 calories in pickled ginger per serving.