Sushi with a Side of Ginger! - Ginger Week

For those who have not followed the trend and still have not tried Sushi; YOU SHOULD TRY. Why we recommend sushi during ginger week is due to it being one of its overlooked ingredients. Sushi is one of the most elegant foods in Asian culture and features an array of ingredients stereotypically on top of rice. This dish is one of those dishes that exemplifies what San Living stands for with their pure organic and fresh ingredients. Not to mention sushi is a good form of Omega-3. The freshness can even be seen with a sheen of glossy like appearance when fresh as sushi is intended.

Contrary to many people who fear the raw aspect of Sushi, there are many options. Sushi actually can be served with components such as cooked egg, avocado and even grilled eel! Sushi today represents a visual beauty behind Japan with simplicity in its' features. It has been evolved over hundreds of years from a preservation method from China, to being placed upon rice by the Japanese to decadent rolls with many components in America.

At San Living we want to bring forth the more traditional side of sushi and explain a little about this beautiful art. With the rice, it is so important to have it cooked to perfection with most higher end restaurants only accepting rice from specific Japanese regions. The sushi is then formed in one of two ways being "nigiri" in which an ingredient is placed upon the rice or "maki" which there is seaweed wrapped along with rice. Of course, there are also some more styles such as "onigiri" or cones but the prior two are the base. Oft arranged with the rice will be the "sashimi" which is the raw fish in which many people fear and account for not trying. Modern times have called for sushi to be made in abundance and served to tables but it was not always like that. Stereotypically in Japan and some high end sushi restaurants; sushi is meant to be served piece by piece at a sushi bar. Furthermore, only the sashimi portion is eaten with chopsticks while the whole sushi would be eaten with your hand. A sushi chef is even considered to be an artist who constructs a stunning piece of sushi at a time with some places offering a "omakase" which signifies your trust in him or her. Many Japanese even consider sushi to be a never ending art which always changes and also as a national treasure.

Finally the reason why we brought up sushi during ginger week; the ginger component to sushi. Essential to any top end sushi bar is a pickled ginger called "gari" and a Japanese horseradish called "wasabi" . This component is so overlooked as most restaurants due to many reasons starting with the wasabi. Wasabi at roughly 95% of restaurants throughout the world is artificial and has a spicy taste but this is far from the authentic flavour. Most of this fake wasabi is significantly cheaper but masks a lot of the flavour for fresh fish. Real wasabi is expensive and difficult to plant while the taste also is difficult to manage with the wasabi's flavour breaking down moments after grated. It is much like ginger or mustard seed in which it accents the flavour with a bit of a kick, and is made through quick grinding on a wooden grater.

The ginger on the other hand is used for a completely different purpose than normal. High end "gari" is stereotypically pink due to the use of a very young ginger in which pink tips are still visible to give a pink shade. In comparison to regular ginger, young ginger has a more tender texture while having a more mild taste. The ginger is thinly sliced then marinated in sugar and rice vinegar and the whole ginger will become pink. Like wasabi, this also has many artificial copies with many sushi restaurants having ginger that is artificially dyed pink. So why is this ginger so special? It is so ESSENTIAL due to the natural ability of its combination of sweetness and spice to cleanse your palate. Whenever you eat two different types of sushi it is always recommended to either drink green tea or even better eat some pickled ginger so you can have a completely fresh taste for your next piece of sushi! (You can even ask for more at any given time for free!!!!) This is especially true with more classical restaurants as they do not always have soy sauce to accompany it. So from us at San Living we highly recommend you try to find more organic wasabi and ginger to try the amazing differences. For those who have not tried sushi at all, please try if possible because it is such a stunning and delicious food. If not just try the wonderful effects that pickled ginger can have on your palate!

We hope you can try pickled ginger soon regardless if it is with sushi or not! Sincerely

-Your San Living Team

*Also if you are eating sushi please stay safe and do not eat unless you know the restaurant has properly made the sushi as any raw fish always needs very particular preperation.