Ingredients
- 1 kg fresh, young ginger roots
- 2 tsp salt
- 3 cups rice vinegar
- 2 cups sugar
Instructions
- 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. Let the mixture cool down, remove the liquid excess (the ginger should just be kept wet) and store in the fridge. The pickled ginger should change its color to light pink; if you are using old ginger, it might not turn pink naturally.
Tip 1: Young ginger is harvested and sold in early summer. It has a mild ginger flavor and a fine fleshy texture that is tender, unlike matured ginger usually used for cooking. Look for ginger with the pinkish tips, which will make the pickled ginger naturally pink. (Some of the commercially produced and sold pickled ginger is artificially dyed.) You can find young pinkish ginger in Asian grocery stores.
Tip 2: Cover the jar and store it in the refrigerator, where it will last for up to one year.
Adapted from this original recipe