Pickled Ginger (Gari or Beni Shoga)

JoAnn — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 23:23:35 +0000

I’ve been using this recipe for the last 20 years and it never fails to impress my guests. It’s from Jeff Smith’s book, The Fugal Gourmet – Our Immigrant Ancestors. The only thing I’ve changed is to substitute the red food-coloring with a sliver of red beet. Be sure to buy fresh young ginger root and wear plastic or rubber gloves when peeling and shaving the root. Otherwise, your hands will be on fire for the rest of the day. Use a potato peeler to shave strips from the root. This is a Japanese condiment used to cleanse the pallet between sushi courses and is served along with wasabi, takuan pickles and the like. Try it with pork roast, roasted chicken, or ham steaks.

1/4 lb. of fresh young ginger root, peeled and shaved paper thin

1/2 cup Rice wine vinegar

2 Tbsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 slice of raw red beet

In a stainless steel sauce pan, place the vinegar, sugar, salt, and beet slice, bring to a boil over medium heat and stir until sugar is dissolved. Add the ginger, reduce heat to low and simmer for 1 minute. Remove beet slice once the ginger is lightly pink in color. Pack sterilized jars with the ginger, pour brine over and seal. When cool, refrigerate up to one month.

Once you have your ginger pickles and daikon pickles made, plan a sushi party and include tempura veggies, hijiki seaweed salad, pear and saki sorbet, and almond cookies.

This Dame Cooks » Ginger

Pickled Ginger (Gari or Beni Shoga)