Unknownchef86's Purple Pickled Eggs

UnknownChef86's Note:

This is something I ate growing up, something that can cause grown adults to salivate merely by mentioning the recipe. Apparently it's a Pennsylvania Dutch recipe, on my maternal grandmother's side of the family. Whoever it was that first decided to include it in their recipe collection...thank you! After getting in a "pickled egg discussion" with Sandi (from CA), I searched 'Zaar and discovered that, amongst the twenty five already here, there wasn't another pickled egg recipe like the one I'd grown up with. None of them had cinnamon or cloves. So here I am, saving the world one pickled egg at a time. ;) Prep time does not include pickling time in the refrigerator. Just for fun, split one after it's pickled. The white should be a purplish-pink color, and the yolk should be yellow. It makes a beautiful contrast. The longer the eggs sit in the brine, the darker and more flavorful they will get. You will discover, however, how many days you prefer them to sit and percolate...I don't usually care to pickle them any longer than a week, as the brine starts soaking into the yolk. I usually double the recipe and store them in a gallon jar.

• Total Time: 6 hrs 5 mins
• Prep Time: 5 mins
• Cook Time: 6 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 12

Brine

• 1/2 cup beet juice
• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (or 1 stick cinnamon)
• 1/4 teaspoon clove

Beets and eggs

• 2 cups cooked beets, sliced (or small, whole beets)
• 1 dozen egg, hardboiled, peeled and chilled

Directions:

1. Heat brine ingredients to boiling. Pour over beets and let stand six hours.
2. Add hardboiled eggs and let stand in refrigerator for up to one week. Assuming you can wait that long. I can't. I start snitching them the day after they're put in the fridge.

Reviews

[afghanmom]

These were very good. It only took a day for the eggs to start absorbing the color. My son and I shared one every day to see the change, and by the 4th day they were pretty much done. A nice addition to salad. I actually think I'll make another batch today :-)

[Pierre Dance]

I have a deep and abiding dislike for beets. I always have. That being said, for some strange unfathomable reason I decided to do a batch of these purple eggs. I do like pickled eggs and that's a fact. Not only did I like the eggs, I liked the beets too. I figured I must have slipped a cog or two so I whipped up a second batch just to see how crazy I was. Then a third and yet again a fourth. As I write this review there's a batch in the works in the fridge, I disremember if it's the fifth or the sixth not that it matters all that much. These have become one of my favorites. Thanx for posting this great recipe. Pierre

[LuckyMomof3]

These eggs are awesome, took the advice of other chefs and added some slices of onion. Yum! The reason for 4 stars instead of 5 is that there wasn't enough brine to cover 12 eggs. I quickly threw another cup of vinegar on the stove and dissolved 1/2 cup of sugar in it and added it to the jar, still didn't cover so I topped up with straight vinegar. They turned out well, just a little more vinegary than I'd hoped, next time I'll work the brine out with 4 cups of vinegar as opposed to 1/2 cup. They were still very yummy though and will definitely make these over and over. The pics I took of the eggs are only after 12 hrs! (No, I couldn't resist either ;) ) They really do get better and better as the days go by! Thank you Unknown for the great and different spin on pickled eggs!
Mel