Pickled Eggs

I love to  pickle things. Admittedly, my actual cucumber pickles are not so great, but I can make a mean pickled zucchini slice. The thing about pickles, is that they are just a food soaked in brine and spices. That is it.
As far as the pantry goes, pickling is the magic that takes a few simple foods, and adds a completely new component of flavor. Pickles fill in the salty/savory/spicy gap, that many of our meals seem to be missing. If you are budgeting and still trying to keep everything as homemade and healthy as possible, pickling is for you.

Today was Pickled Egg Tasting Day. My recipe can theoretically be eaten after 3 days, and I wanted to take a picture and blog about it. Tasting was just a part of the job.

The results? They were still too salty. It is the same as trying a pickled asparagus spear too soon. The salt has not moved into the food, and is still prevalent in the brine and on the outside of the food only. They were not bad tasting, just too salty. Back into the fridge they go, for another few days.

Pickling eggs also uses up some of the spring flush that my girls get into this time of year. I seems we go with 3 or 4 eggs a week to 30 or more a week, without warning! Suddenly, I am making a lot of omelets, French toast and Frittata. My kids cry fowl (sorry couldn’t resist), and the creativity kicks in. This recipe uses 12 eggs, so I can make three or 4 jars and clean out my overabundance pretty quickly.

For this recipe, place 12 eggs into enough cold water to just cover. Bring to a boil and then turn off heat. Let cook for 12 minutes. Strain and cool in cold water so you can peel them easily.

Peel eggs and place them in a quart canning jar. In a saucepan, combine the following:

2 c. vinegar
1 c. water
11/2  tsp. salt
1 Tbsp pickling spices (I made my own using cloves,mustard seed, dillseed, cinnamon sticks, celery seed and bay leaves)
Sliced onion 


Bring to a boil and then pour over the eggs. 


Cap and let cool on counter top. Then refrigerate for 3 days at least, before trying.


Yum!!