Pickled Eggs

For some reason, pickled eggs sound really disgusting to me. I like hard boiled eggs well enough, but when you throw in the whole pickling, it just has a negative connotation. However, it seems like a really great way to preserve excess eggs from the summer’s heavy laying months for use in the winter when production takes a dive.

It is also a fantastic recipe to use for the Preserve The Bounty challenge, since my scattered brain missed it last week. I’m able to double dip for both weeks by preserving my eggs in alcohol and vinegar by using white wine vinegar. I threw in a large pinch of peppercorns as well. I know these aren’t traditional pickled eggs, but I was aiming more for preservation of the egg rather than altering the flavor by a huge amount.

This was so super easy it’s ridiculous. All you have to do is boil eggs- if you’re eggs are farm fresh, then let them age for a couple of weeks in the fridge, you’ll still be ahead of the game since you’re not purchasing from a supermarket where the eggs are closer to three weeks old before they even hit the shelf. The reason for the aging is because the shells will adhere to the egg white during peeling for fresh eggs. It’s quite unattractive. Not sure if you’re eggs are fresh? Try to submerge them in a bowl of water. If they sink, they’re fresh. If one end floats, it’s perfect for boiling. If the whole egg floats, chuck it. It’s very old. This is because as an egg ages it begins to fill up with a little pocket of air that makes it bouyant.

I place my eggs (ideally room temperature) in a pan of warm water and turn the burner on high. Set the timer for twenty minutes and then plunge the hard boiled eggs in ice water to stop the cooking process.

Peel the cooled eggs and fill a mason jar. My dozen fit perfectly in a quart sized jar. Pour the white wine vinegar over the eggs, sprinkle in some peppercorns, seal, and refrigerate.

How easy is that?

The recipe was derived from Preserving Without Canning or Freezing that I mentioned a couple weeks ago. This book is fantastic! When I got done bookmarking, just about every page had a scrap of paper hanging out.  I decided that I must, must, must have it. It’s the third book on preservation I’ve picked up from the library this summer and by far the most informative, impressive, and has the most “normal” recipes. (I’m just not a fancy eater, I like simple, flavorful foods that require few ingredients that aren’t unusual. That’s not to say that I don’t have a diversified menu, because I really think we do. I’m always trying new things. I just don’t know how often that I’m going to be using the tandoori paste or the mango chutney from a new recipe. Looking forward to sampling these in a few weeks.

I’d like to say that we had an excess if eggs around here to preserve, but I can’t find where the gals are all laying. I did find some in the artemisia off the driveway, but once I gathered them, they’ve chosen a new spot. I’m thinking about trying the old golfball trick, because locking the up makes them go on strike. We’ll get a ton for the first two days and then they stop laying.