Gari (pickled ginger) is thinly-sliced, sweetened pickled ginger and is an indispensable garnish with sushi. Because its crispy texture and refreshing and piquant taste eliminates the smell of fish, it makes sushi consumption an enjoyable experience. When eaten between bites of sushi, it cleanses and renews the palate.

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“Sushi shoga = ginger” may be the more familiar term in America.

Demand for gari has rapidly increased along with the sushi boom in America. It is safe to say that the appreciation of gari has already spread among others besides Japanese.

It appears that the origin of the word, gari, stems from the crunchy “gari-gari” sound produced when you bite into the ginger. The moniker is used in sushi restaurants just as soy-sauce as “murasaki,” sushi rice as “shari,” and tea as “agari” all came to be generally accepted.

Aside from its role of cleansing the palate, gari works to sterilize. It is a good idea to eat gari with sushi to prevent food poisoning. Furthermore, because it is effective in enhancing appetite and/or warming the body, it is indeed a perfect match with sushi.

Gari is not merely an accompaniment for sushi. It can be used in a variety of dishes in many inventive ways. It can be tempura-fried by squeezing out the moisture or added to tartar sauce by slicing the gari into fine pieces. Gari is easily made at home by soaking sliced strips of ginger root in sushi vinegar. Please try gari in a variety of ways.

How to Make Homemade Gari (Japanese Pickled Ginger)

The regular ginger root we usually see in stores is ginger that has been harvested and stored for at least 2-3 months. It has dry skin and is yellow on the inside. On the other hand, fresh ginger that is just harvested has white skin and a pink top. You can find young ginger in Asian grocery stores mainly during summer, from June to the end of August. Fresh young ginger is what you need to make homemade gari. Try this sweet vinaigrette pickled gari recipe that goes well with sushi, yakisoba or even as a garnish for hot dogs!



Homemade Gari Recipe Ingredients (Serves 8oz. glass jar ) 1 cup thinly sliced young ginger

1/2 cup vinegar

3 Tbsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt for boiling ginger

1/2 tsp. salt for pickling Cooking Directions Sterilize the glass jar and lid in a boiling pot. Make sure the jar and lid is completely dried before using. Wash the young ginger and skin it with the edge of the spoon. Leave the pink top part on, if the tip of the ginger is dried cut that part off. Slice the ginger thinly vertically with the grain of fibers. Boil the sliced ginger with water and a 1/2 tsp salt for 3 min. Drain water in a sieve and let it cool down. Use cheese-cloth to squeeze the excess liquid out and air the ginger out on a tray. In a small pot mix together rice vinegar, sugar, salt and bring it to a boil. Let the sugar and salt dissolve and let it cool. Put the sliced ginger in the jar, pour the liquid over it and store it in the refrigerator. Wait 2-3 hours and then it’s ready to eat.

How to cook Gari?

Gari Chirashi Sushi Recipe Ingredients (Serves 2) 2 cups cooked rice

3 Tbsp. sushi vinegar

1/2 cucumber, julienned

1 oz. pickled ginger (gari), julienned

3 pieces inariage (seasoned deep-fried tofu pockets), julienned

1/3 pack radish sprouts

Imitation crab (as desired), shredded into strips Cooking Directions Add vinegar gradually to warm rice. Fan the rice to cool or stir gently with a hard spatula. Squeeze out the moisture from the cucumber and sprinkle with salt (not listed in ingredients). Cut the radish sprouts in half. Mix the imitation crab, cucumber, gari, and inariage into the rice. Garnish with the sprouts.

Gochiso Magazine, Nijiya Market