Easter Eggs, Courtesy of Beet Juice

[The Late Night Gourmet]

I swear I didn't plan this. I made pickled beets not long ago, and I read somewhere that the juice could be used to pickle eggs. So, I removed the remaining beets to make room for hard boiled eggs, and I waited. Then, I forgot about them. I decided to take some out and see how the looked.

I did expect some bleed through from the juice, but I had no idea it would be so extensive. The yolk looks a bit like a sunset. And, yes, it does have the pickled beet taste. Since I made my own pickled beets, that means it tastes of not-overly-sweet beets with hints of garlic. Needless to say, I boiled some more eggs and immersed them last night. It remains to be seen if the pickling continues indefinitely, or if there's a law of diminishing returns.

 

[buckytom]

Looks neat!
The pickled beet colored eggs is an old trick. I wonder how fresh beet juice would work on eggs with shells still in tact?

As an aside, did you ever see a hard boiled egg tree on the end of a bar?

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

Looks neat!
The pickled beet colored eggs is an old trick. I wonder how fresh beet juice would work on eggs with shells still in tact?

As an aside, did you ever see a hard boiled egg tree on the end of a bar?

I'd guess they'd work the same way...like you suggested, beet juice has been used for thousands of years as a dye.

I've seen pickled eggs in a jar, but not on a bar (which sounds a lot like an adult version of Cat in the Hat).

 

[buckytom]

I'd love to find some natural dyes for yellow, and blue, and so on.

The pickled or hard boiled eggs on a bar is from olden days where blue laws required any pub to remain closed on certain days and certain hours, though a restaurant that served food alongside alcohol had much fewer restrictions. Pub owners started to sell eggs to their patrons as a way of getting around the law. Buy a pickled or hard boiled egg along with your beer or whiskey, and you're in a restaurant.

 

[Morning Glory]

I swear I didn't plan this. I made pickled beets not long ago, and I read somewhere that the juice could be used to pickle eggs. So, I removed the remaining beets to make room for hard boiled eggs, and I waited. Then, I forgot about them. I decided to take some out and see how the looked.

I did expect some bleed through from the juice, but I had no idea it would be so extensive. The yolk looks a bit like a sunset. And, yes, it does have the pickled beet taste. Since I made my own pickled beets, that means it tastes of not-overly-sweet beets with hints of garlic. Needless to say, I boiled some more eggs and immersed them last night. It remains to be seen if the pickling continues indefinitely, or if there's a law of diminishing returns.

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I have a post on the Forum somewhere about this. The longer you leave them the pinker they get. I think they look better if the pink just permeates the white - but hey they are fun!

 

[Morning Glory]

Try turmeric pickled eggs too...

 

[Morning Glory]

Here are my Turmeric Pickled Quail's Eggs with Tomato and Chilli Jellies and Caperberries

 

[Morning Glory]

And here are my beetroot eggs:

 

[Morning Glory]

I'd love to find some natural dyes for yellow, and blue, and so on.

Are you talking about dying the shells or the shelled eggs?

For yellow use turmeric. For blue you meed special flowers from Thailand! Nothing else I know of produces a true blue. I have some in my store cupboard! For dark brown use soy sauce. I'll have to think about orange and green.

 

[buckytom]

Thanks. Yes, I meant the eggs with shells still on.

 

[Rocklobster]

If you just crack the shells but leave them on, then soak in the colored solution, when you take
them out and peel them they have a very interesting pattern on them. Different types of flavored teas will work also....

 

[buckytom]

Those are dinosaur eggs.

 

[epicuric]

Last year we arrived in Cyprus just in time for Easter and were presented with some lovely deep red eggs. They are a big part of the Easter celebrations over there (blood of Christ, sacrifice etc.) and are dyed using an extract of a root called "rizari", which I think is related to fodder beet. They also use other colours on decorative eggs - apparently red cabbage will produce blue eggs! I may experiment later this week.

 

[Morning Glory]

Last year we arrived in Cyprus just in time for Easter and were presented with some lovely deep red eggs. They are a big part of the Easter celebrations over there (blood of Christ, sacrifice etc.) and are dyed using an extract of a root called "rizari", which I think is related to fodder beet. They also use other colours on decorative eggs - apparently red cabbage will produce blue eggs! I may experiment later this week.

You know I was thinking that red cabbage might be useful - but if you add vinegar to red cabbage it stays red so you couldn't pickle the eggs. If you boil red cabbage it goes a sort of purple doesn't it, rather than blue?

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

You know I was thinking that red cabbage might be useful - but if you add vinegar to red cabbage it stays red so you couldn't pickle the eggs. If you boil red cabbage it goes a sort of purple doesn't it, rather than blue?

I haven't posted my kimchi recipe (yet), but here's a sampler. After a few weeks, everything in the jar turned purple, even the brussels sprouts. I have to think that eggs soaking in the same mix would do the same thing.