The egg.  It is no surprise that the container of all that is needed to create an animal life is also the most nutritious food.  The protein, fat, vitamin, and cholesterol profile of an egg is unsurpassed, from a nutritional perspective.  And yes, cholesterol is an important nutrient.  It is the raw material from which many important hormones are made, including estrogen and testosterone.  The human brain only weighs a couple of pounds, yet it contains a quarter of the cholesterol found in the body.  Diets deficient in cholesterol, and cholesterol reducing pharmaceuticals (statins), put the brain at a great disadvantage.  Among the elderly, the highest memory function is found in individuals with the highest cholesterol levels.  Those with the lowest cholesterol levels have higher risk of depression and death.  Is it possible that there is a correlation between a cholesterol free diet and the sophistry of vegans?  More research is needed.  Clearly, emotional health is adversely impacted by a lack of dietary cholesterol. 

I have heard that some "medical professionals" even advocate the addition of statin drugs to municipal water supplies.  As horrifying as I find this notion, I cannot say that I find it surprising.  The public has excepted the dumping of toxic mining waste, in the form of sodium fluoride, into its drinking water for decades, in spite of truly dodgy science supporting any benefit or efficacy.  If drinking fluoride prevents tooth decay, does drinking sunscreen prevent sunburn, or is this just a profitable way of solving an expensive problem for industry?  Would the addition of statins to our water reduce the rate of heart disease, or just provide a massive new market for drug companies while expanding the market for antidepressants?  I digress...

Eggs, in the kitchen, are magical.  The toque (that funny looking hat, worn by French chefs) has exactly 100 pleats.  Each fold represents a way that a true chef knows to prepare eggs, or so I'm told.  Eggs are versatile and irreplaceable.  From cakes to custards, and from hollandaise to meringue, eggs do things that no other pronounceable ingredient can do.  On a homestead scale, eggs are a reliable source of protein.  They show up, every morning, and you don't have to get bloody to harvest them.  Though less plentiful in the winter, they are still a stream of fresh food when the garden is asleep.  Eggs are a food source that trickles in daily, comes in a shelf-stable, individual package, and can be prepared simply, or manipulated into gastronomic grandiosity. 

Here, in America,  eggs must be washed and refrigerated for sale in the white market.  In Europe, they are not refrigerated, and may NOT be washed.  The reason for this is that, as an egg is laid, the hen coats it with a protective film.  This film prevents pathogenic microbes from passing through the porous shell, into the liquid portion.  If you wash this film off, you must refrigerate the egg, and it will begin dehydrating and spoil sooner.  In truth, a "dirty" egg, left on the counter, then washed just prior to use, is safer and better than a shinny one in the fridge.  Not surprisingly, thoughts on pickled eggs also differ on either side of the Atlantic Ocean.  The American approach is refrigerated, whereas the European method is shelf-stable.  As with my post on summer sausage, this recipe is titled "Pickle eggs I", as I will explore the more adventurous euro style, in the future.   If you, as an American, want unwashed eggs you must turn to the black market.  

I pickle eggs for several reasons.  At present, there is a glut of eggs in my barter economy.  With Maxine pumping out 3 gallons of milk everyday, and a demand within my affinity group for raw dairy, and with limited currency flowing from the early spring gardens, I take a lot of eggs in trade for milk, butter, cheese, etc.  I make buckets of ice cream (full cream, mind you), throw hollandaise slathered brunches, and sneak eggs into everything I can, but they still pile up.  These pickled eggs are good, refrigerated, for a really long time.  The salinity and acidity makes for a very uninviting environment for spoilage bacteria and molds.  Having them cooked, peeled, and ready to eat makes them awfully handy.  A couple pickled eggs make a fine lunch when time is short during planting season.  They add nutrition and interest to salads of spring greens, longing for a tomato that won't be seen for three months.  They are highly fungible, in my experience.  A quart of pickled eggs has purchased me everything from two days of stucco work to half a cord of firewood.  A myriad of flavors can be incorporated into pickled eggs resulting in beautiful variety.  Once the beets are in, I like to make "purple nurples" with brine, honey, and beet juice, but for now we'll stick to sweet, sour, and spicy!

Ancho Chili Pickled Eggs

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