Pickled Eggs

Good Morning

As a child in the 40s & 50s, we ate a lot of different things at home, many of them home canned or pickled. It is entirely possible that the time and place my parents were raised would have had an influence on that.  My Mom grew up on a small farm with seven other brothers and sisters in North Eastern Nebraska and in the house where my Grandmother Arp gave birth to her in 1915. 

Magnet School 1925

Times were… well let’s just say different then, and being self-sufficient more prevalent than today.  There was a General Store a country mile away in the little town of Magnet, (est. 1893) along with a Post Office, Methodist Church on the corner, City Park, Jail House, Grain Mill next to the railroad tracks, Livery and Service Station, and the Magnet School (K-12) where mom walked to every school day for 12 years.  (Mom is front row, third from the left.  She is 10 years old in the photo.)

 When you lived on a farm in the mid-west back then, you used everything you produced.  I’ve heard stories, but never experienced even a fraction of what they did.  Of course there were fresh vegetables from the garden and there were always fresh eggs from the hen house along with some of the freshest fried chicken (in bacon grease) you have ever tasted, once you lopped its head and plucked it clean of feathers and innards.  The bacon grease came from the pig that you raised, slaughtered, butchered, and cured the hams, bacon and other bits and pieces.  This was done mostly in the winter where the meat could be stored in a small room upstairs set aside as a cooler and where items would stay cold if not frozen.  Pickling and canning was the way of preserving food where refrigeration was not available and then storing these things in the storm cellar.  When you lived in Tornado Alley, (Magnet has been hit twice by tornados) you had a storm cellar which also doubled as a food cellar since the temperature was stable and cooled from the earth around it, food would keep longer, albeit a bit dark unless you lit the kerosene lamp. 

  Mom knew how to bake, cook, cure, can and pickle from the time she was a small girl and I was one of the beneficiaries of the products from those skills.  It always seemed that we had canned fruit and veggies around, but as she got older and the family smaller there was less and less of it.  Of course, in the 50s when I was in my adolescence and later a teenager, the last thing I wanted to learn were those skills, for there were more important things in my myopic world.  So, I didn’t… and in retrospect, I now realize I missed a golden opportunity to learn from a master of her craft.

 For years mom would make pickled eggs with a little bit of liquid smoke for flavor.  She has been gone from us now for close to a decade and I realized the other day that I was missing those eggs.  It also could have been her that I was missing or those times, as well as the eggs and like and anchor that ties us to another time I needed to placate the condition and conger up a jar or two.

 They are really pretty simple to make as long as you are willing to spend the time.  Here is how to do it:

• 1 – Quart – Mason Jar w/Lid  [I like the old looking kind with the wire latches]
• 1 – Pint – White Vinegar
• 1 – Dozen – Large Eggs
• 1 – Table Spoon – “Wright’s Liquid Smoke – Mesquite Flavor”
• ¼ – Tea Spoon – Table Salt
• (Optional and highly recommended)
• 2 – 2” Jalapeño Peppers – 1-Green & 1-Orange, sliced in 1/8” rounds.

Pickled Eggs

To Do:

•  Hard-boil the eggs (25 min.) peel and wash.
• Place eggs in Mason Jar or a 1 quart jar of your choice, taking care to create an organized appearance.
• (Add peppers during this time for even distribution and appearance.)
• Add White Vinegar to cover eggs
• Add Liquid Smoke
• Add Salt
• Cap the jar and gently turn it upside down a few times to stir up the salt and smoke.
• Place in refrigerator to keep them cool.
• Ready to eat in 3 days and they get better after that.

 The Jalapeño Peppers add more flavor than heat and is a variation from what my Mom’s used to be.  Certainly worth a try to see if you like them better.  I know they are nothing like picked pigs feet, (something we also ate) but these guys go great with beer and the like. 

 So there you have it.  Live the adventure and try it, you just may like it.

 Love, Dad

Photo Credits:

Magnet School from my mom’s photo alblum.

Pickled Eggs: Mine, but feel free to use it.