Pickled Ginger

I am allergic to seafood and that includes sushi. sigh. I am also a Pisces which is the astrological sign represented by two fish swimming in opposite directions. It is what it is. I LOVE wasabi and ginger which go quite nicely alongside sushi. So...recently, as in a couple days ago, I was able to throw together a batch. Followed this easy recipe only using half the amounts.

My slices are a thicker than your typical pickled ginger, it was not extremely fresh, or the baby ginger but I am interested in seeing how it turns out! I have tasted a few. Pow...Ginger bliss in the kisser. So Good!

Pickled ginger is usually served with sushi and is called gari. It's best to use fresh young ginger (shin shoga) to make gari.

Ingredients:

• 2 lb fresh young ginger (shin shoga)
• 2 tsps salt
• 3 cups rice vinegar
• 2 cups sugar

Preparation:

Wash young ginger root and rub off skin. Slice the ginger thinly and salt them. Leave salted ginger slices in a bowl for about one hour. Dry the ginger slices with paper towels and put them in a sterilized, heat-resistant 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 them. Pickled ginger changes its color to light pink. (If you are using old ginger, it might not turn pink naturally.) Cover the jar and store it in the refrigerator.

http://japanesefood.about.com/od/sushiforbeginner/r/gari.htm

I used rice vinegar I found at whole foods, fresh ginger and a honey jar I saved and ran through the dishwasher.