Japanese Pickled Ginger Food

PICKLED GINGER FOR SUSHI

Steps:

• Peel the ginger and slice it as thin as humanly possible.
• Rub the sliced ginger with the coarse salt until you do not feel the graininess of the salt.
• Place ginger in a mixing bowl and refrigerate for several hours.
• After ginger has sat for several hours, take it out and squeeze out as much liquid as possible.
• Put ginger in a clean jar.
• Put the vinegar, water,food coloring, and sugar in a small sauce pan and bring to a simmer.
• Stir until the sugar is dissolved.
• Pour over ginger and allow to cool slightly.
• Seal the jar and allow to"cure" in the refrigerator for at least 3 days.
• (This allows the flavor to mellow out some... you can use it sooner, but it will have more of a"bite").

JAPANESE PICKLED GINGER

Steps:

• Wash fresh ginger root and rub off skin.
• Slice the ginger thinly.
• Sprinkle salt on ginger.
• Leave salted ginger slices in a bowl for 1 hour.
• Dry the ginger slices with paper towels, and put them in a sterilized container/jar.
• Mix rice vinegar and sugar in a pan, and bring to a boil.
• Pour the hot mixture of vinegar and sugar over the ginger slices. Cool.
• The ginger will change color to light pink.
• Cover the jar, and store it in the refrigerator.

PICKLED GINGER

Steps:

• Combine everything but ginger in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
• Add ginger and turn heat down to a simmer for 1/2 an hour.
• Take off heat and let stand until cool, about 1 hour.
• Place in a jar and refrigerate overnight.
• Will keep for up to 1 month. Enjoy!

BENI SHOGA -- JAPANESE RED PICKLED GINGER

Steps:

• Wash and peel ginger.
• Cut into small, uniform matchsticks by slicing into rounds first, then stacking the rounds and slicing across.
• Place into a strainer and sprinkle with sea salt.
• Let this sit and drain for about 30 minutes.
• Squeeze out liquid and pat dry with a paper towel.
• Stack the shiso leaves on top of each other, roll into a cigar-like cylinder and slice thinly
• Place the ginger slivers into a clean, glass jar, layering with the sliced shiso leaves.
• Pour in the ume brine.
• Cover with a lid and store in the refrigerator.
• Let the ginger pickle for about a few weeks.
• Enjoy beni shoga on top of okonomiyaki, takoyaki, yaki soba, gyudon, curry rice or anything else that might please the palate.

HOMEMADE PICKLED GINGER (GARI)

Steps:

• Cut the ginger into chunks and place them into a bowl. Sprinkle with sea salt, stir to coat and let stand for about 30 minutes. Transfer the ginger to a clean jar.
• In a saucepan, stir together the rice vinegar and sugar until sugar has dissolved. Bring to a boil, then pour the boiling liquid over the ginger root pieces in the jar.
• Allow the mixture to cool, then put the lid on the jar and store in the refrigerator for at least one week. You will see that the liquid will change to slightly pinkish in few minutes. Don't be alarmed because it's the reaction of rice vinegar that causes the change. Only quality rice vinegar can do that! Some commercial pickled ginger has red coloring added. Cut pieces of ginger into paper thin slices for serving.

JAPANESE PICKLED GINGER-CANNING RECIPE

Steps:

• Soak ginger slivers in ice water, covered for 12 hours.
• Drain.
• In a small stainless or enamel saucepan combine vinegar, honey and miso.
• Bring to a boil.
• Pack drained ginger into 2 half pint jars.
• Pour hot liquid over ginger, leaving 1/2 inch head space.
• Seal and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes at altitudes up to 1000 feet.
• See altitude chart for higher altitudes.

PICKLED GINGER

Steps:

• Peel and thinly slice a 4-inch piece of ginger; put in a small jar. Pierce 1 or 2 Thai chiles with the tip of a knife; add to the jar. Bring 1/2 cup each rice vinegar and water, 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 teaspoon kosher salt and 2 star anise pods to a simmer in a saucepan; cook 5 minutes, then pour over the ginger and let cool slightly. Cover and refrigerate overnight or up to 2 weeks.

GARI: JAPANESE PICKLED GINGER

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Wash the young ginger root and scrape off any brown spots with a spoon. Then scrape off all the skin with a scraper or peel the ginger by hand.
• Slice the ginger thinly and salt the slices. Leave salted ginger slices in a bowl for about 1 hour.
• Dry the ginger slices with paper towels and put them in a sterilized, heat-resistant container or jar.
• Mix the rice vinegar and sugar in a pan and bring to a boil until the strong vinegar aroma has evaporated.
• Pour the hot vinegar and sugar mixture over the ginger slices. If you want to keep the ginger spicy, pour out the liquid after about 1 minute. Otherwise, let the mixture sit for 2 to 3 minutes.
• Drain the slices in a colander and let them cool by placing them on a paper towel in a single layer. The pickled ginger should change its color to light pink; if you are using old ginger, it might not turn pink naturally.
• With clean hands, squeeze the liquid out of the slices and place them in a jar.

PICKLED GINGER

Steps:

• Combine everything but ginger in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add ginger and turn heat down to a simmer for 1/2 an hour. Pull off heat and let stand until cool, about 1 hour. Place in jar and refrigerate overnight. Will keep for 1 month.