Pickled Ginger For Sushi - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1/2 lb gingerroot
1 tablespoon coarse salt
1 1/4 cups rice wine vinegar
3 tablespoons water
1/4 cup sugar
1 -2 drop red food coloring (optional)

Preparation

Peel the ginger and slice it as thin as humanly possible.
Rub the sliced ginger with the coarse salt until you do not feel the graininess of the salt.
Place ginger in a mixing bowl and refrigerate for several hours.
After ginger has sat for several hours, take it out and squeeze out as much liquid as possible.
Put ginger in a clean jar.
Put the vinegar, water,food coloring, and sugar in a small sauce pan and bring to a simmer.
Stir until the sugar is dissolved.
Pour over ginger and allow to cool slightly.
Seal the jar and allow to\"cure\" in the refrigerator for at least 3 days.
(This allows the flavor to mellow out some... you can use it sooner, but it will have more of a\"bite\").