Gari or shusoga is Japanese for pickled ginger. To make some, bury a fresh, scrubbed ginger root in sea salt overnight, remove it from the salt the next day and drown it in a boiled mixture of mirin, which is Japanese rice wine, sake, sugar and spices. Gari's light pink color, gentle heat and antimicrobial properties make it the perfect accompaniment to yu sheng, a raw fish and vegetable "good-luck" dish, served at Chinese New Year celebrations.
Cleanse Your Palate
Thin-sliced pickled ginger and a teaspoon of wasabi often accompany sushi. After each bite of sushi, you take a dab of wasabi and a bite of pickled ginger to cleanse your palate. Because sushi ingredients have very subtle flavor differences, taking bites of pickled ginger in between prevents your taste buds from raising their sensory threshold due to habituation. Habituation is filtering repeated stimuli that are not relevant to immediate survival, according to researcher E. M. Eisenstein.
Add Flavor
Pickled ginger provides a slow buildup of heat in your tongue as well as a sweet-sour crunch. The combination of flavors and texture balance the soft rice and fish, smooth nori and the clean flavor of the vegetables. When eaten in the same bite as a California roll, pickled ginger's heat combines well with the cool, almost citrus taste of the cucumber and the sweet root flavor of the carrot, preventing the nori from overpowering your palate.
Add Visual Appeal
Pickled ginger's shell-pink color and translucence make it an excellent choice when creating garnishes. The most common way to serve it is peeled and sliced into a long, thin strip, which is arranged on the plate like an unfolded rose. Whole pickled ginger can also be carved into fancy koi, birds or plants.
Prevent Infection
Ginger contains zingibain, a chemical that kills anisakid worms in raw fish, according to master herbalist Tonia Contino. Zingibain also kills salmonella and other bacteria, making it an essential ingredient when making sushi, ceviches or "tartare" dishes.
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