Featured Recipe: Japanese Pickled Ginger

J
apanese Pickled Ginger
from Linda Ziedrich

Makes about 1 pint

Use fresh young ginger for this pickle. Available in Asian markets, young ginger is pale, almost white with very thin skin and pink stem stubs. A mandolin may be useful for slicing the root. Your pickled ginger may turn out faintly pink, but it won’t have the hot pink color you’ll see in commercial versions of this pickle, that color comes from food dye. A traditional accompaniment to sushi, pickled ginger refreshes the palate and cleanses the mouth of fishy tastes.

Ingredients
– 1 quart water
– ½ pound fresh ginger, sliced paper thin
– 1 teaspoon plus a sprinkle of pickling salt
– 1 cup rice vinegar
– 3 tablespoons sugar
– 1 teaspoon light (usukuchi) Japanese soy sauce

Directions
Bring the water to a boil in a saucepan and add the ginger. Bring the water back to a boil and then drain the ginger well in a colander. Let the ginger cool.

Put the ginger into a bowl and sprinkle the ginger lightly with salt.

In a saucepan, bring to a boil the vinegar, the sugar, the 1 teaspoon salt, and the soy sauce, stirring to dissolve the sugar and salt. Pour the hot liquid over the ginger, mix well.

Store the ginger in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator. It will be ready to use in a day or two and will keep for several months, at least.

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