Rosy

 

Here is one of my pickled eggs, shortly before I ate it. Note the lovely pink color of the whites. It is just barely beginning to sink into the yolks, but it never penetrates very far.

I know some think they sound disgusting, but I find them the Food of the Gods. The pickled beet juice is not overpowering, it just gives a nice little tang to the eggs.

I've asked my Mom for the recipe before, and she said something like, "Oh, you just take some beet juice, add a little vinegar, boil it, then put it on the eggs." Over the years, I've learned to operate the way my Mom does in the kitchen (at least I've tried), and the key with many things is to take a taste and adjust if needed. Since I've never made pickled eggs before, I wanted to try to find something a little more definite...an actual recipe with measurements! I found this in my Southern Country Cookbook. I'm not sure if it's a southern thing to use beet juice (my Mom's family is from Kentucky), and maybe those of you who live in the South can tell me if you know of this.

Pickled Eggs

15-18 hard-boiled eggs

3 cups white vinegar [*see below]

1 cup water

1 teaspoon salt

Shell eggs. Bring vinegar, water, and salt to a boil. Place eggs in jar and cover with boiling liquid. Cover immediately.

*To pickle eggs with beet vinegar, drain liquid from jars of pickled beets and use instead of vinegar and water.

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That's all my cookbook says, but a couple of notes here. I think my Mom uses part beet juice and part vinegar. I guess I would use about 3½ cups of beet juice and ½ cup of vinegar. Also, the longer they sit in the fridge, the better. I'd go with a minimum of 3 days in the fridge, to get that beautiful rosy glow. My Betty Crocker cookbook actually calls them "Rosy Pickled Eggs," but Betty calls for a bunch of other stuff like garlic cloves, pickling spices, etc. That's making something uncomplicated and beautiful way too difficult. Stick with the beet juice and vinegar. Oh, and you can throw the pickled beets in the jar, too. Oddly enough, I don't care for pickled beets, but I love eggs pickled in pickled beet juice. Go figure.