Pickled Egg Interlude

In central Pennsylvania, we have some interesting dishes that you may not find everywhere else in the world. This is one of them. Behold, the pickled egg! (The rest of the dish is just a regular salad.) And yes, the next thing I did after I sliced this egg was to salt it lightly and give it just a bit of pepper.

A pickled egg starts out as a regular hard-boiled egg. Then it is placed into a brine solution made up of red beets, vinegar, and other seasonings, and left there for a while, until the egg white becomes a pretty pinkish-maroon color that actually seeps into the egg yolk.

My mother makes the best pickled eggs in the world, and it was always the case that we would have some on any holiday or major family event. The oversized glass jar of pickled eggs and beets would be placed in the fridge in the basement, where somebody would have to bring it upstairs in time for the meal.

My mom is 92 now and her pickled egg-making days are behind her; of the many things I miss, her homemade meals and treats are at the top of the list. In this photo is a pickled egg I had left from our Easter meal this past Sunday. I had two pickled eggs on my plate; I ate one and brought one along home. It was pretty good but I have to say my mom's were better!

My soundtrack song is this one: the Cranberries, with Pretty.

P.S. The origin of the dish is that it was brought to the U.S. by German immigrants, or as we call them around here, the Pennsylvania Dutch. Here is more info about the history of these eggs. And here is a link to a simple pickled egg recipe.