Properly pickled eggs should last up to four months, although once they are sufficiently pickled, I eat them pretty quickly.
Just a couple more days have made a big difference, as the eggs are pretty good right now. I've eaten six of them today. The taste of the jalapeno is more pronounced now, but not overbearing. Next time, I think I'll prepare them pretty much the same although I might use just a bit more jalapeno and perhaps some more dill. Nevertheless, as they are, these are better than most of the ones that I buy from time to time.
There must be a way to can them, as I used to find them in bars from commercial sources canned. I have found ways to water bath can them, but i didn't find any way to pressure can them. I wonder what would happen if you pressure canned fresh eggs in a pickling brine without boiling them first? I guess you would have to prick the eggs to keep them from exploding, but I am sure they would be cooked by the time you pressured them for 30 minutes or so.
I think if you place an uncooked egg into vinegar, it will eventually turn into something like rubber. I don't know anything about pressure canning.
In pressure canning, the egg would be quickly cooked. My concern would be the calcium in the shell would dissolve and raise the pH to an unacceptable level.
I can remember when my wife and I were young we'd got o the beach in Ipswich Ma and my future morther in law always had pickled eggs as part of the meal
Like all of the off-beat food we had around the house during my childhood, pickled eggs can also be traced back to my father's German Pennsylvania Dutch roots. Same as scrapple/pan haus.
The vinegar would dissolve the egg shell with long exposure and the pH would rise as a result. We used to pickle whole fish (smelt) and the bones would dissolve in the pickling liquid. We kept them in a vat and they didn't last long with two teenaged boys and their friends around.
Okay, having finished off the first large jar, I've opened the second. Either the balance of ingredients wasn't equal or another day or two of pickling made the difference, but these are more what I was looking for, in that the jalapeno is more pronounced. I pickled 18 eggs, 2 in a small jar and 8 each in two larger jars. I can't record a recipe because I don't measure stuff. However, I used two parts white to one part water, more than enough to fill the three jars, because I had some left over. To that, I added about a tablespoon of sugar and an equal amount of salt, and boiled that in a saucepan, to dissolve the sugar, taking it off the heat once it had been brought to a boil. Most recipes call for more sugar but I habitually use less sugar than recipes call for. I boiled the eggs in a separate pan, and peeled them. Using two quart Mason jars and one small Mason jar (6 oz, I think), I distributed the eggs as noted above, although I could have fit 10 eggs in each of the larger jars. I poured the vinegar mixture over the eggs, enough to cover the eggs. Next, I distributed a chopped clove of garlic among each of the jars, along with half an onion (chopped), and half of a large jalapeno pepper (chopped). To each of the jars, I added a sprig of dill and a bay leaf, then filled each of the jars as near to the top as I could. Closing the lids of the jars, I turned them upside down in order to distribute the ingredients, a couple of times, then placed them in the refrigerator. After 6 days, I opened the small jar and found them to taste okay, but insufficiently pickled. In 8 days, they were very good although the jalapeno wasn't as pronounced as I had intended it to be. On the 10th day, I opened the last jar and they are pretty near perfect, so I don't think I need to add more jalapeno; I just needed to give it more time. Or perhaps, I could skip the water.
Thanks for the details, Ken. That's interesting it took 10 days for the flavors to permeate. Nearly every recipe I read says 5 days. That does not sound like much of a pickle. I'll let mine go longer than that. When I told a friend I had pickled some eggs, his eyes lit up. Glad I did a dozen.
I only did it because I noticed that we had some small Mason jars, but I think it's a good idea to have a test jar with only a couple of eggs in it.
I made some that a guy on a site said was easy to make, so I tried it. They were good, so I then made a second-quart jar of them, and ate them too. I like them with beer. These were easy to make just like he said. I boiled some eggs, cooled them in ice, peeled them put them in a quart jar in Louisana hot sauce about 3/4 full of hot sauce, filled the rest with white vinegar closed the jar placed them in the refrigerator for two weeks. Presto pickled eggs.