Posted: 12/11/2011 9:25:59 AM EDT
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My neighbor has a pretty nice little supplemental egg business with about 30-40 productive laying hens and a solid buying clientele. We get along very well and whenever his family goes on a trip my gf takes care of the chickens for them. The deal is that we get all the eggs during that time which is fantastic because we both love farm fresh eggs and we also keep a keen eye over his farm for him. They are going on a 2 week trip next week and we will be taking care of the chickens but this will also mean that my refrigerator will become overwhelmed with eggs. So I have decided to make some pickled eggs. I really like to make (and eat) them and have what I consider to be a pretty good recipe but I only have experience making refrigerated ones and I don't think I'm going to have enough room in there to accomodate this many. So I am thinking I have to quickly learn how make them shelf stable but I have no canning experience. My question is are there any shortcuts for this or will I need to bone up really fast on canning them for the pantry? |
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I can't help with the issue of longer term storage. Haven't looked into that as refrigerated pickled eggs have always been satisfactory for us.
One thing I can contribute is this: store your fresh eggs for a month in the frig before you hard boil them. Fresh eggs are a beast to peel successfully. 
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From WAWalker in the above linked thread Farm fresh eggs need to be 4-5 days old before hard boiling or you will loose most of the egg trying to peel it. Dunno if that means to refrigerate or just leave at room temp for that 4-5 days. I'd love to know, because I'm gonna have a flock of chickens in spring. I have hot packed commercial eggs, with thus far no ill results. Hot packing was made necessary after the fridge conked out unexpectedly, while we had a surplus (Costco run) of eggs in the fridge. Stronger brine solutions will solve many problems, when in doubt, increase your vinegar:water ratio, and crank up the salt. /Post up whatever you end up doing, and the results, we'll always benefit from your success OR failure, as long as we know about it  |
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Quoted: Ok thanks for the insight didnt mean to hijack the thread...I went ahead and put them all in the fridge just to be safe you din't hijack my thread. I like the discussion. The eggs are coming in now and I realized that if I have room enough to store them in cartons, then I shoul have enough to store them in pickling jars. I will have to do a lot of rearranging though. @Feral about waiting for a month to boil fresh eggs. I already know. I had to learn that the hard way. ETA: also I just realized that my beer could sit outside on the porch. It is below 50 these days. That means room for more eggs! |
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I've heard you can crack them in a bag and freeze them. I have actually done that but I haven't thawed and tested them to check the consistancy. I figure they will be good for scrambled eggs if nothing else. I froze them in foodsaver bags, it worked pretty good I guess.  |
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Quoted:
I can't help with the issue of longer term storage. Haven't looked into that as refrigerated pickled eggs have always been satisfactory for us. One thing I can contribute is this: store your fresh eggs for a month in the frig before you hard boil them. Fresh eggs are a beast to peel successfully. Yep, learned this the hard way. I've tried adding vinegar to the water and even poking the shell with a needle. Doesn't help. |
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Quoted:
It takes eggs quite awhile to spoil. We let them sit out at room temp a few days to hard boil. I've read that you can leave them out up to a six months if you don't wash them. Coat them in mineral oil and they're good for a year. Never been brave enough to try it though. |
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Well, we ended up the neighbors trip with a little over 15 dozen eggs. Roughly a dozen a day (two of these eggs looked like they came from a T-Rex). We gave away 4 dz. and we've eaten 2 and will probably eat 2-3 more before they start to go bad (really good egg salad sammiches and fried eggs) So it looks like I'll be making 5-6 dozen pickled eggs or so. |
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Quoted:
Well, we ended up the neighbors trip with a little over 15 dozen eggs. Roughly a dozen a day (two of these eggs looked like they came from a T-Rex). We gave away 4 dz. and we've eaten 2 and will probably eat 2-3 more before they start to go bad (really good egg salad sammiches and fried eggs) So it looks like I'll be making 5-6 dozen pickled eggs or so. Only 2-3 dozen more before they go bad? Refrigerated eggs last just short of an eternity, they won't taste as good as fresh, but they'll hold a LONG time. |
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Quoted: Well, we ended up the neighbors trip with a little over 15 dozen eggs. Roughly a dozen a day (two of these eggs looked like they came from a T-Rex). We gave away 4 dz. and we've eaten 2 and will probably eat 2-3 more before they start to go bad (really good egg salad sammiches and fried eggs) So it looks like I'll be making 5-6 dozen pickled eggs or so. When I do a batch, sometimes I'll do 10-12doz+. Yeah it takes longer but like with any canning project, the bigger you go, the happier you are when you check the pantry after you're done. |