Southern Perfection - Fiesta Pickled Hard Boiled Eggs

Oh guilty pleasure.... this would be one of many. Then again, you can't feel that guilty over eggs, can you? I mean, it's like a perfect food, in my carnivorous opinion. And when you pickle this perfect food, it becomes a double perfect, triple perfect kinda deal.

Yep, we pickle almost anything. And this might turn some people off but way back in the day, pickled eggs were a real treat. For most Southerners, pickled eggs are a common regional delicacy you can still pick up at the corner store or the deli. My mouth waters thinking about it.

Although growing up, the pickled eggs I often encountered were vinegary, delicious, punchy packages with a kick. Often pickled in a beet-colored, vinegary pickling brine or colored with red food coloring or more commonly, hot sauce.

We've pickled eggs before using our hot sauce brine. I mean....this. is. so. good. So this is my all time favorite way of doing this at home. Tsunami also loves pickled sausage, another deep South picklicious tradition. So we've pickled eggs in pickled sausage brine. You get the picture.

But recently, I decided to make this again after coming across pickled eggs on pinterest, which reminded me to do it again. And I've also been doing batches of quick dill pickles with my favorite cheater pickling spices from Ball. Now, this isn't a traditional fermented pickle but an American-style, vinegar pickle. Both are popular at my house and we go through some pickles, y'all.

I had a bit of the Fiesta Salsa mix from Ball in the pantry, but I've never used it for salsa actually. Instead, I've used it for pickling tomatillos, cherry tomatoes, carrots and onions, which are outstanding in bloody marys. I thought this would be a great flavor profile for the eggs so that's just what I did.

Here is what I used for a half gallon batch:

Ingredients for pickling base:
1/4 c Ball Fiesta Salsa pickling spices
2 tbsp vinegar
4 c hot water
hot water, to top off, if necessary

~12-15 hard boiled eggs
3 sliced jalapeños, optional
1 sliced sweet onion, optional
1 clean half gallon Ball or canning jar with fitted lid, ring

Method:

1. Hard boil your eggs and make sure they are cooled and peeled.
2. In a separate container, mix your pickling base and allow it to cool.
3. Put eggs in the jar and any other goodies you like, then fill with the pickling base. My base above almost filled the jar perfectly but I wanted to ensure there was enough to cover all veggies.
4. This is optional, but I vacuum sealed my jar just to keep things tidy and clean while I let it sit for a few weeks in the fridge to marinate. That is essentially what you are doing. You are marinating these eggs in a vinegary bath of tasty love.

Consider these variations:

• Spicy Portuguese or Italian or Cajun sausage 
• Sliced carrots
• Celery (sounds weird but pickled celery rocks!)
• Hot chilis (I used jalapeños, but my next batch will have Reapers)
• No pickling mix? How about Bloody Mary mix as a pickling brine? I've even seen Tsunami save his pickling juice from his favorite pickle of the week and reuse that. We love spicy so anything with a vinegar base, even the canned pickled jalapenos en escabeche you can find at most grocery stores will work great. My next batch will probably be a full on dilly pickle brine as I have loads of fresh dill in the garden coming.