Homemade Pickled Ginger (Gari)

Name: Homemade Pickled Ginger (Gari)
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 1 1/2 cups
Ingredients: 8 ounces fresh young ginger root, peeled; 1 ½ teaspoons sea salt; 1 cup rice vinegar; ⅓ cup white sugar

Rating: 4.71 stars

51 Ratings
39 Reviews
11 Photos

Pickled ginger is called gari or amazu shoga in Japanese. It's served with sushi or sashimi and eaten between different kinds of sushi. It helps to clean your taste buds and enhance the flavors. It's also great with Century Eggs - a Chinese delicacy. You can find prepared pickled ginger in pink or white at most Asian markets but I preferred to make my own and share with family and friends.

By Phoena

Gallery

Recipe Summary

prep:

40 mins

cook:

5 mins

total:

45 mins

Servings:

Yield:

1 1/2 cups

Nutrition Info

Ingredients

Original recipe yields 32 servings

The ingredient list now reflects the servings specified

8 ounces fresh young ginger root, peeled
1 ½ teaspoons sea salt
1 cup rice vinegar
⅓ cup white sugar

Directions

Step 1
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.

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Step 2
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.
Step 3
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.

Tips

For safety when canning and preserving foods, contact your local extension for guidelines in your area that will be specific to your altitude. Click here to read more about canning and preserving.

Nutrition Facts

Per Serving:

14 calories; protein 0.1g; carbohydrates 3.3g; fat 0.1g; sodium 83.4mg. Full Nutrition

Reviews (39)

Most helpful positive review

mamabear

07/09/2008

It is nice to know how to make our own pickled ginger. I sliced the ginger thin when it was raw, then added it to the boiling vinegar mixture and simmered it for about 5 minutes. I then put it in to the jar, cooled it, and stored in the refridgerator. We used it the same day with our sushi...perfect! Read More

Helpful

(223)

Most helpful critical review

A Murphy

08/09/2010

The recipe does not say whether to wash off the salt. I did not, and the ginger turned out too salty. Read More

Helpful

(226)

51 Ratings

5 star values: 41
4 star values: 7
3 star values: 2
2 star values: 0
1 star values: 1

Reviews: Most Helpful

Most Helpful Most Positive Least Positive Newest

A Murphy

08/09/2010

The recipe does not say whether to wash off the salt. I did not, and the ginger turned out too salty. Read More

Helpful

(226)

mamabear

07/09/2008

Helpful

(223)

amydoll

11/18/2007

Very good. Surprised at how easy this was, just hard to wait! To peel ginger, just use a regular spoon and the skin comes right off. Read More

Helpful

(134)

chefcurtis

09/13/2011

The pink color has nothing to do with the quality of your rice vinegar. Only very young ginger will turn pink during the pickling process. The ginger root you buy at your supermarket is not young ginger. I doubt if any companies are using coloring to create the pink color, unless it is really cheap ginger. Any Japanese-made pickled gingr will be young ginger. If it really bugs you that it's not pink, try to find young ginger - you will probably have to go to an Asian market or a large public market in a major metropolitan area with a large Asian population. I like mine just fine white. This is a great recipe, just the way I make mine. You will love the taste, don't worry that it's not pink! Read More

Helpful

(95)

Cushla

10/31/2008

Good recipe. I used apple cider vinegar with a dash of balsamic as I had ran out of rice vinegar (We live 150ks from nearest supply) did not have the natural pink color still tasted good and cleaned the pallet. Next time I might add a little finely sliced chilli. Read More

Helpful

(49)

My4boys

08/12/2010

I used my mandolin slicer for my ginger and still it didn't turn out as thin as I like. (I like mine paper thin) I'm still trying to figure out how to get it thin enough... The flavor was really good and you can just keep adding more ginger to the pickling as you go along. Read More

Helpful

(43)

cam

10/23/2012

I didn't know this would be so easy to make. I didn't have any rice vinegar, so I used apple cider vinegar, next time I make it I will try the rice vinegar and see if there is a difference.Mine tasted great.I used a regular potato peeler and it came out fine.I love having this on hand.thank you Read More

Helpful

(21)

Marie Medek Brenden

05/25/2010

Fantastic! Only stored it for 2 days in the fridge and it was great. Sliced it thin on my mandoline before. It didn't turn pink, but my rice vinegar might have been "okay" quality. I aslo used splenda instead of sugar.I may have sliced it too thin, but for the salad Ginger Cabbage Salad recipe I used it in I think it was fine. Read More

Helpful

(21)