Pickled ginger only appeared a few years ago in most stores in our country. Around the same time, when sushi bars became popular. It is not surprising, because pickled red ginger, along with soy sauce and wasabi, is an integral attribute of many dishes of Asian cuisine, and first of all it is customary to include sushi and rolls here.
Alas, this delicacy is not too cheap. Therefore, many cooks are looking for a recipe for pickled ginger to cook it at home. We will tell about this, and at the same time we will arrange a short excursion into the history of this seasoning.
Ginger story
The homeland of this plant is considered to be the countries of Southeast and South Asia. It is not surprising that it was there that they first figured out how to pickle ginger at home. True, they ate it not only for pleasure. Many people had to eat raw fish, unable to cook it, for example, to fishermen who went fishing for many days. They ate ginger to get rid of parasites whose eggs could be found in raw fish.
The British, who colonized many lands in the region, also appreciated this seasoning. But it turned out to be important to them another property. After all, ginger has an excellent warming property. It is enough to eat a small piece of it to feel the heat spreading from the inside. In the damp, windy climate of Misty Albion, ginger turned out to be an indispensable product, allowing to reduce the number of colds. It is no coincidence that it was there for the first time that they began to cook gingerbread cookies, drink ginger tea.
Where does he grow
As mentioned above, initially ginger grew only in a small region. But later it began to be artificially planted and cultivated in Africa and South America. It is grown in countries with a very temperate climate. Of course, so that young shoots do not freeze and have time to bring a crop, they are planted exclusively in specially designated greenhouses and greenhouses.
Some lovers of exotic plants even manage to get a crop at home by planting a tuber bought in a store in flower pots.
Harm and Benefit
It is also important that pickled ginger is sharp, like fresh, can bring considerable health benefits. After all, this seasoning not only makes food more tasty, but also:
- supports immunity;
- improves digestion;
- possesses an expectorant and diaphoretic property;
- reduces pain in women during menopause.
In addition, it contains a number of valuable trace elements: potassium, iron, sodium, zinc, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium.
Therefore, it is worth learning the recipe for pickled ginger to enrich your diet.
However, it is not useful to everyone. Like most products, ginger has certain contraindications. For example, it should not be eaten in the summer heat - it has a warming property, so thermal shock is possible. Even if you really like ginger, refuse to use it at temperature. But people suffering from ulcers, gastritis and other gastric diseases, it is generally better not to touch it - an exacerbation of the disease may follow.
How to thinly chop
Purchased pickled ginger is delicious. But its price is quite high. In addition, he possesses excellent taste qualities not least because various flavor enhancers are added to the marinade that do not exactly improve the health of the gourmet.
Therefore, many people are interested in learning how to pickle ginger at home. Perhaps, in this case, the taste will not be so sophisticated, but you can do without harmful additives.
But first you need to cut it. Remember how thinly chopped the purchased ginger? Alas, at home, cutting it also does not work - you need special equipment.
The easiest way to cope with the task is with a special grater cutting thin plates. But usually in this case the thickness will be 1.5-2 millimeters, not thinner.
Therefore, experienced cooks prefer to do the work manually. To do this, you need a thin, very well-ground knife. Ceramic is ideal for peeling vegetables - very sharp, short and easy to use.
Rinse the ginger thoroughly and clean the top layer - you can use a metal brush to wash the dishes.
After that, lay the tuber on the board and cut. The finer you can cut, the more tender the pickled "petals" will be. Therefore, saving time is not worth it.
When slicing, pay attention to its texture. If the upper layer of the tuber contains hard fibers, then ginger is old - alas, it will not become tender, even after pickling.
Pickle ginger
Now we’ll show you how to pickle ginger. A vinegar recipe is the most common. It's nice that this requires only fairly common ingredients:
- 100 grams of root;
- 1 teaspoon of salt;
- 4 tablespoons of sugar;
- 150 ml of grape vinegar;
- 3 tablespoons of water.
The pickle ginger recipe itself is also very simple. Dissolve salt and sugar in water. Stir the mixture thoroughly in a saucepan. Pour in vinegar and set on fire. As soon as the marinade begins to boil - immediately remove it from the heat.
By this time, chopped ginger should be put in a jar. Until the liquid has cooled, fill it with the root, tighten the lid and leave it on the table. When the marinade reaches room temperature, put the jar in the refrigerator. Three days later, you can get it and show loved ones their brilliant culinary skills.
If Ginger Is Too Spicy
Purchased ginger has a rich sweet-sour-spicy taste. But in pickled at home, the sharpness often interrupts the acid and sweetness. Some connoisseurs like it even more. But most people would agree that the severity might not be so pronounced. How to be in such a situation? In fact, everything is quite simple.
Having learned how to pickle ginger correctly, you have prepared the first portion, but is it impossible to seasoning because of the sharpness? Just repeat the pickling process. For this:
- Drain the old marinade from the can.
- Allow the container to warm to room temperature so that the glass does not crack upon contact with boiling water.
- Prepare another portion of the marinade and refill the ginger, then leave it overnight - it does not need to marinate for 72 hours.
The resulting product will not become more salty or sweet, but part of the sharpness will go away, and the ginger will turn out to be more similar to the purchased one, but without any dangerous impurities.
Some experienced chefs even pre-pour chopped ginger with boiling water - once or twice - to remove some of the sharpness. Experiment with cooking to get the perfect taste - because now you know how to pickle ginger for sushi, and you have the opportunity to customize the recipe.
Why is he not red?
Some connoisseurs are disappointed with the fact that instead of mouth-watering pink petals, the jar contains a yellow chopped tuber. Not surprisingly, special dyes are added to the production to give ginger a more natural color. The fact is that a little unripe ginger (which is considered the most tender) gets pink in contact with the marinade. But in production, mature tubers are commonly used. To show the buyer high quality products, ginger is tinted.
If you want to achieve the same result, just add two or three tablespoons of beetroot juice to the hot marinade. Ginger will also take on a nice pinkish tint.
What to file
Of course, in the first place, ginger is usually served with rolls and sushi. But it also perfectly complements most fish and meat dishes. In addition, experienced housewives often bring a plate of pickled ginger during a meal change. For example, even a rich, tasty soup after a salad may seem fresh and almost tasteless. But it’s enough to eat just one piece of ginger to cleanse the taste buds and fully enjoy the dinner.
Remembering the recipe for pickled ginger, you can always cook the perfect seasoning for any dish, while spending a minimum of time and money, getting an environmentally friendly and healthy product.