Pickled Ginge

How to Make Pickled Ginger

The reason why it took me a while to share this recipe is that I had a hard time finding the young ginger with pink tip (shown in the picture below).  Most of young gingers in Asian grocery stores didn’t have the pinkish tip (cut off).  And this pink pigment makes the pickled ginger naturally pink.  So it’s very important!

Young ginger has a mild ginger flavor and a fine fleshy texture that is tender, unlike matured ginger usually used for cooking.  The young ginger’s skin is very thin and easy to peel with fingers or a spoon.

To make sushi ginger, only young ginger is used.  It’s thinly sliced and then marinated in sugar and rice vinegar mixture.  The sliced ginger will naturally become light pink color from the pink parts of the young ginger.

Author: Namiko Chen

Serves: ¾ to 1 cup

Ingredients

• 3.5-5 oz (100-150 g) young ginger
• ½ tsp. Kosher salt (or ¼ tsp. table salt)

Sweet Vinegar (Amazu)

• 3.4 oz. (100 ml) rice vinegar (right between ⅓ cup and ½ cup)
• 4 Tbsp. (40-50 g) sugar
• ½ tsp. Kosher salt (or ¼ tsp. table salt)

Equipment you will need

• A sterilized jar with a lid
  

Instructions

1. Using a spoon, scrape off brown spots. Then thinly slice with a peeler.
   
2. Sprinkle ½ tsp. Kosher salt and set aside for 5 minutes. Then add the ginger into a boiling water and cook for 1-3 minutes. If you want to keep it spicy, take it out around 1 minute. Otherwise, 2-3 minutes is good.
   
3. Pour the water into a sieve and let the ginger slices drain completely by spreading them out in a single layer. With your clean hands, squeeze the water out and put them in a sterilized jar or Mason jar.
   
4. In a small pot, add 3.4 oz (100 ml) rice vinegar, 4 Tbsp. sugar, and ½ tsp. Kosher salt, and bring it to a boil till strong vinegar smell has evaporated. When it’s slightly cool, pour the liquid into the jar with sliced ginger.
   
5. Several hours later (minimum 3-4 hours), the ginger will turn slightly pink. The following day it will be even more pink. The pickled ginger can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 year.
   

http://www.justonecookbook.com/pickled-ginger/