Josh First's Blog

Pickled eggs

Pickled eggs are a regional treat unappreciated by many otherwise redeemable connoisseurs from the flatlands.  My wife and I relish them, our kids turn up their noses, and many other people ask “What?”

So here we go:

Using a gallon-size empty large glass pickle jar, I put in a can of sliced beets (plain, unsalted, if it can be found) with the red juice, 2-4 sliced onions of any color, thinly sliced rounds from 2-3 large carrots, and a dozen hard boiled, peeled eggs.  Pickling solution is made to taste, usually a teaspoon of white sugar and a teaspoon of salt dissolved in a few ounces of warm water, dill, basil, and garlic to taste, about 8-12 ounces of apple vinegar, 1-2 ounces red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar, and top it off with warm water. Turn the sealed jar upside down and shake it for a minute.

Set it out on the kitchen counter for a few hours, and then refrigerate (or in the winter, put it in your cold mud room or outside enclosed porch, good natural refrigerators).

After a couple days, everything in that jar is begging to be eaten.  After a week, it is a delicacy.  We eat the eggs whole with the vegetables on the side, or I slice them up into salads that Viv and I eat for lunch.

Three cheers for Central Pennsylvania’s traditional foods!