Pickled Young Ginger - Full Moon # 1

One of the must haves for Full Moon. The only ginger that my hubby likes. He is a ginger hater, but he loves pickled ginger.

It sounds easy to make pickled ginger. But it's not easy to make nice tasting pickled ginger. I've tasted quite a lot of not so nice ones before. Either too salty, too fiery, or not sourish enough or not enough sugar. One must be daring enough to put in vinegar and sugar. Not enough of either and the ginger taste somewhat off balanced. And the process is important too, and if not, the ginger will be too fiery.


I first learnt to make this during Lydia's full moon. My mother gave my confinement lady tips on how to make it better and I learnt from there. For Lyanne's full moon, the 10kg of ginger that my confinement lady prepared for my gift packs weren't enough, and I made another 2kg on my own. But all ingredients were added by intuition. No measurements of any sort. So, this time, I made sure I get all the ingredients correctly measured so that you may make some at home too. But then again, this recipe is just a guide. You must taste your own ginger to determine whether it's salty, sour, sweet or fiery enough for you. My preference may not be the same as yours.

Pickled Young Ginger
Recipe source: Wendyywy in collaboration with my confinement lady
Final amount after pickling : About 5 cups of ginger

2kg young ginger
4 heaped Tbsp salt (regular cheap salt will do)
600gm rice vinegar (imitation vinegar will be sharper and more sourish, so you will need more sugar than in this recipe)
600gm sugar

1. Clean ginger and use a knife to scrape off all the skins. Do not use a peeler. You'll remove too much skin. Rinse ginger well.
2. Thinly slice the ginger using a mandolin.
3. Put salt over ginger. Toss and let ginger sit for at least half an hour until it feels pliable.

4. Meanwhile, put vinegar and sugar together in a pot and bring to a boil. Stir it once a while to prevent sugar from settling at the base. Turn heat off and set it aside.
5. Rinse salted ginger and squeeze dry the ginger. Do this TWICE.

6. Pour boiling water over ginger. Lightly stir to ensure all the ginger are heated through. Let it sit for 1 minute.
7. Pour the ginger over a colander and let it drip dry and cool down.
8. When ginger has cooled down, squeeze dry the ginger. Squeeze as dry as you can. Taste the ginger, it should no longer taste very fiery, and salted but not too salty.
9. Put ginger into a nonreactive vessel (glass, ceramic or stainless steel) and pour cooked vinegar syrup over the ginger. Stir it gently with clean chopsticks. Cover and let it sit for 2 days (minimum) before serving.





* If using air tight glass jar or any other properly sealed vessel, you can leave it at room temperature. If the vessel is not air tight, like a pot, or a casserole pan, put it in the fridge to prevent creepy crawlies. It will not spoil at room temperature.

*always use clean utensils when you want to take some ginger out for serving.

Pickled ginger if kept chilled can be safely kept for years. My mom told me, that the pickled ginger I made for Lyanne's full moon is still in good condition in her fridge. She only eats some if she feels some tummy wind or she has no appetite.