Pickled Ginger In Natural Pink

I love anything that is natural and I don't like food that uses food dyes .  I used to eat at Japanese Restaurant and I noticed that their pickled ginger are pinkish in color. And I thought they used food dye to make them pinkish.  I discovered that you don't need to use red food dye to make them pinkish recently.  A dear friend of mine taught me to use lemon juice on the young ginger slices before pickle them.  Wow...and true enough they turned a natural pink.  Woohoo..... dancing on my trotters now.  So , I am sharing here with you the secret of turning pickled ginger into natural pink :)   A very nice natural pink color...makes food interesting. You can add these pickled ginger to your salad or egg with century eggs appetizer or go with your sashimi...mmmm I know I am going to enjoy my pickled ginger for now :)  

soak the young ginger slices in lemon juice for

at least 30 mins...they will instantly turn pinkish

Pickled Ginger In Natural Pink  -adapted from  Tastehongkong  with a twist

600 gm baby ginger - scrap of skin, wash , pat dry and sliced thinly
1 tbsp coarse salt
2 tbsp sugar
1 lemon juice

Pickling solution
2 cups rice vinegar
1.5 cups sugar

Method:

Scrape off skin from baby ginger, wash and pat dry, slice thinly with a sharp knife or a mandoline. Mix the ginger slices with 1 tbsp of coarse salt and let them stand for an hour, after which some liquid will exude. Discard liquid and rinse with drinkable water, strain dry.  Add lemon juice and sugar, mix well . To ensure that the ginger slices are in good contact with the lemon juice, it is best to have them laid in a large flat container while they are being steeped. Stir and turn the ginger for several intervals. Leave it for 30 mins. The ginger will turn natural pink at this point. Pour away the lemon juice.  Place the pink ginger into a glass jar.

Meanwhile , cook the rice vinegar and sugar till the sugar has melted. Leave it to cool (10 mins ). When the vinegar solution has turned warm, pour over the ginger slices in the glass jar. Make sure the ginger slices are covered with the pickling solution.  Close the jar when the pickled ginger is completely cooled down.  Keep in the fridge and you can serve the ginger slices after 2 days.  This pickle can keep for months in the fridge.

Enjoy !