I’m want to make some “old fashioned” pickled eggs. What sounds good to me is just white wine vinegar, some beets, red onions, and peppercorns. I’ll heat all of that up together on the stove, and then pour it on top of the peeled and boiled eggs, in a sanitized jar.
What I’m wondering is, a lot of pickled egg recipes also call for salt and/or sugar. I don’t want them to be sweet, though. So, should I include any salt and/or sugar, or am I ok with just the ingredients that I described? I like sour a lot, so I’m not too concerned about them being too sour/vinegary, but I also don’t want them to come out so sour that you can’t eat them…
Also, if anyone has a very good recipe for pickled eggs that includes the ingredients that I mentioned, please let me know. As of now, I’m having to piece together a few different recipes to achieve what it is that I am trying to make.
My initial reflex is “pickled anything without salt doesn’t seem to make sense”. But that may just show that I have too narrow a view of what pickling is supposed to mean.
I don’t think sugar is normally considered an essential ingredient for pickling purposes, but is likely there to improve the taste, so my guess is that sugar in pickled anything ought to be optional depending on your preference. Beets have considerable sugar for a vegetable, so if you’re adding beets they may provide enough anyway.
Just watch, someone will come and show why I’m wrong.
Many of the recipes I’ve seen do not call for salt. With the vinegar, I don’t think it is REQUIRED. Might add some flavor, though.
As for the sugar, good point regarding the beets. Maybe I’ll be good only using those. It does only take a few slices though, and you simmer the beets in the vinegar before letting it cook, and then use a cheese cloth or sieve to pour the mixture into the jar, on top of the hard boiled and shelled eggs.
My quick and lazy look on Wikipedia led to a question that I suspect might turn your search in a better direction. There are several distinct styles of pickled eggs; once you figure out which style you’re really trying to make, I expect you’ll be able to intelligently narrow down the recipes by eliminating the ones that are for the other styles.
ETA: Even if it turns out your desired style is “a little of this plus a little of that”, knowing it will probably steer you in the right direction.
My grandmother made pink pickled eggs…my grandfather loved pickled beets, so she would buy a jar of pickled beets and use the brine from the beets to pickle the eggs.
Theres no heating…just out the hardboiled eggs into the jar, too up with white vinegar as needed, and let them sit in the fridge for a few days.
My mother’s recipe for pink pickled eggs calls for both salt and sugar, but not a lot of either - just enough to take the edge off the vinegar. However, it also calls for fresh beets that then pickle along with the eggs, not canned pickled beets. If you use canned pickled beets, the pickling liquid will already contain salt and sugar, so you probably won’t need more.
We make lots of pickled beets using the Ball Blue Book recipe. The vinegar is diluted & we reduce the sugar quite a bit. No salt. I hard boil eggs, peel them &:put them in a container & add enough pickled beets to cover. After a day or two in the fridge they are classic Red-Beet Eggs. The salt & sugar are not essential to the pickling process & can be adjusted or eliminated to suit your taste.
oh…ohkay . . .it’s an old thread. several posters still with us, so looking for info/advice.
a while back, DW hankered for pickled beets. her mother did a mean pickled beet . . .
process: fresh beets, trim top, trim root, simmer until tender in a pot - 50% apple cider vinegar + 50% water + dollup of sugar. when tender and cooled, remove skins, slice beets, store in ‘the juice’ - works great.
after the beets got et, decided ‘pickled eggs’ would be a neat idea!
fwiw… have not had pickled eggs in literally decades . . . . long story - buddies, bars, drunk food, purple eggs in a jar on the counter . . .
so, hard boiled some eggs. perfect, perfect peel, no green, yadda yadda
plunked them in the pickled beet juice for 3 days, in the refrigerator.
whites got purple, no green yolks . . . looking good.
however , , , the white became quite “tough” - the yolks got rather hard . . .
I did eat all four - taste was good, texture a definite “meh”
question is: is that normal/expected/usual?
keep in mind . . . my “memories” are ~50 years old . . . memory is a funny thing…
should be stay in the refrigerator? - - - the jar on the bar top is not kept cold . . .
does too much vinegar or sugar do a number on texture?
Normal, at least in my very limited experience. The whites get rubbery in the pickling liquid, which is why I am not a fan of pickled eggs. I don’t like the texture.
Pickled eggs are not shelf stable, and should be stored in the refrigerator. The problem is that the eggs are too dense for the pickling liquid to penetrate deeply enough to ensure pathogens are destroyed. That big ol’ jar on the bar? It’s kinda risky.
Yes, the whites and yolks will firm up quite a bit when pickled and continue to get more rubbery as they remain in the cure. I typically try to cook my hard boiled eggs to the “just-barely-done” stage when I plan to pickle them, as I know the whites will get much firmer (that said, I don’t like fudgy yolks, so I do make sure they are cooked through - but only just). I also don’t leave them in the cure more than two days, usually less - the pink color may not make it all the way through to the yolk, but there’s plenty of flavor and it ensures a better overall texture.
thanks all for the tips/info!
now and then I’ll hard boil 2-3 eggs, after cooling/peeling, keep them submerged in water using in pryrex bowl w/lid - gone in a couple days.
but they don’t get rubbery and harden like the pickled ones did.
I assume the acid/vinegar continues to “cook” the whites, which explains the rubbery part - but yolk getting so firm was a puzzle.
methinks I’ll pick up some commercial ones from the supermarket to compare (they come sealed in a bag…kept refrig’ed …) I did notice their color is much paler than my home made beet juice.
