Often served with sushi or sashimi, pickled ginger, known as “Gari” in Japanese, is perfect for cleansing the palate and enhancing the flavors of your meal. This recipe teaches you how to make sushi ginger at home.
If you enjoy my sushi recipes like Hand Roll sushi, California Roll, Dragon Roll, and Spicy Tuna Roll, there’s one crucial complementary dish you need to enjoy with your amazing sushi. And that’s Pickled Ginger, or Sushi Ginger. In Japan, we call it Gari (ガリ) or Shin-shoga no Amazu-zuke (新生姜の甘酢漬け).
How to Make “Gari” – Pickled Sushi Ginger
The reason why it took me a while to share this recipe is that I had a hard time finding the young ginger with a pink tip (shown in the picture below). Most of the young gingers in Asian grocery stores didn’t have the pinkish tip (cut off). And this pink pigment makes the pickled ginger naturally pink. So it’s very important!
Why use Young Ginger for Pickled Sushi Ginger?
Young ginger has a mild ginger flavor and a fine fleshy texture that is tender, unlike matured ginger usually used for cooking. The young ginger’s skin is very thin and easy to peel with fingers or a spoon.
To make sushi ginger, only young ginger is used. It’s thinly sliced and then marinated in sugar and rice vinegar mixture. The sliced ginger will naturally become light pink color from the pink parts of the young ginger.
Many commercially produced and sold pickled ginger are artificially dyed pink, but you should be able to find some brands that avoid artificial coloring.
Young ginger is harvested and sold in early summer. During my visit to Japan this summer, there were many fresh young gingers in the supermarket and I knew I had to make this recipe!
Why We Serve Sushi with “Gari”
Gari or Sushi Ginger is often served and eaten while you eat sushi and it’s an essential part of a sushi meal.
The ginger’s spiciness and sweet vinegar flavor cleanse the palate between eating different pieces of sushi, allowing you to enjoy different kinds of fish and rolls.
At a sushi restaurant, you can ask more if you want extra. 🙂
When you find young ginger in the grocery store, you know what to do now! I hope you enjoy this homemade pickled ginger recipe!
Japanese Ingredient Substitution: If you want to look for substitutes for Japanese condiments and ingredients, click here.
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Often served with sushi or sashimi, Pickled Ginger (known as Gari in Japanese) is perfect for cleansing the palate and enhancing the flavors of your meal. This recipe teaches you how to make sushi ginger at home.
- 3.5-5 oz young ginger (100-150 g)
- ½ tsp kosher/sea salt (use half for table salt)
- 100 ml rice vinegar (½ cup minus 1 Tbsp)
- 4 Tbsp sugar (45 g)
- ½ tsp kosher/sea salt (use half for table salt)
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Gather all the ingredients.
- Using a spoon, scrape off brown spots. Then thinly slice with a peeler.
- Sprinkle ½ tsp. Kosher salt and set aside for 5 minutes. Then add the ginger into a boiling water and cook for 1-3 minutes. If you want to keep it spicy, take it out around 1 minute. Otherwise, 2-3 minutes is good.
- Drain the ginger slices over a sieve and then spread them out in a single layer. With your clean hands, squeeze the water out and put them in a sterilized jar or Mason jar.
- In a small pot, add 100 ml (½ cup minus 1 Tbsp) rice vinegar, 4 Tbsp sugar, and ½ tsp Kosher salt. Bring it to a boil till strong vinegar smell has evaporated, roughly 1 minute. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly. Pour the vinegar mixture into the jar with sliced ginger. Close the lid, let cool and refrigerate.
- Several hours later (minimum 3-4 hours), the ginger will turn slightly pink. The following day it will be even more pink. The pickled ginger can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 year.
Equipment you will need:
- A sterilized jar with a lid
Recipe by Namiko Chen of Just One Cookbook. All images and content on this site are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without my permission. If you’d like to share this recipe on your site, please re-write the recipe in your own words and link to this post as the original source. Thank you.
