I cooked up something new today ~ Homemade Pickled Ginger! My husband loves the stuff so I thought I'd give it a try. After sifting through a few online recipes, I slightly altered a version of one from Food Network: my alterations were that I doubled the recipe, added red pepper flakes instead of Thai Bird Chiles and I used black peppercorns vs. white. And because I just happened to have a jar of canned beets (also homemade mind you) I used beet juice vs. a small beet.
Ingredients
2 cups rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 small red beet, peeled and halved
2 bay leaves
1/2 tablespoon white peppercorns
2 Thai bird chiles
2 cups ginger slices, peeled (1/8-inch thick)
Directions
Combine everything but ginger in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add ginger and turn heat down to a simmer for 1/2 an hour. Pull off heat and let stand until cool, about 1 hour. Place in jar and refrigerate overnight. Will keep for 1 month.
Ingredients
2 cups rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 small red beet, peeled and halved
2 bay leaves
1/2 tablespoon white peppercorns
2 Thai bird chiles
2 cups ginger slices, peeled (1/8-inch thick)
Directions
Combine everything but ginger in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add ginger and turn heat down to a simmer for 1/2 an hour. Pull off heat and let stand until cool, about 1 hour. Place in jar and refrigerate overnight. Will keep for 1 month.
I'm sure the beet juice was meant to add a little pink color to the ginger, however as soon as I added the ginger to the boiling brew, the brine went colorless again. I had read on another site that the ginger will naturally turn pink from the chemical reaction to the brine after a few days. We'll have to wait and see. Regardless, Thom had to taste test it (no patience you know) and he said its better than store bought so I'm pleased.
Forget the razor blade, much easier with a paring knife!
The bubbling brew with spices in a tea ball.
Hey, hey - where'd that beautiful color go?
Abracadabra ~ the finished product!
