Pickling Eggs with Beets on Independence Day

Are you enjoying a quiet Independence Day? It's so strange not having a big gathering or going to watch fireworks.  While some people are boldly getting out despite the risk of spreading COVID-19, our family is playing it safe and keeping things simple.  Life has been so quiet here, in fact, that I have had time to think about making pickled eggs.  

How do you pickle an egg?  I had never given it a try, but after curiosity got the better of me I decided to do some research.  The only prior experience I've ever had with pickled eggs is seeing them on the counter at a convenience store and thinking how strange they looked.  I wasn't brave enough then to try one.  How far I've come to now consider embracing the mysterious pickled egg...

Our hens have been providing an abundance of eggs.  Initially, I wanted to try pickling some of our extra eggs using dill pickle juice (which in my limited experience seemed to be the only way it was done).  However, as soon as I looked online for a recipe and saw the beautiful images of brightly colored eggs in beet juice, I knew I had to give the beets a try. 

Since I had several jars of home canned beets in my pantry from last year, it was a cinch to make these.  The recipe I (sort of) followed came from Taste of Home - see it here.  The minor changes I made were to replace the water in the recipe with more of the beet juice and to reduce the sugar a little bit.  Now these two quart-sized jars of pickled eggs with beets need to sit in the refrigerator for at least a few days before we give them a try.  

These jars of pickled eggs were not preserved using a pressure canner or the boiling water bath method.  Instead, they are fresh hard-boiled eggs that are simply packed with a pickling solution and beets.  This means that they'll only keep for a short while in the refrigerator (we plan to keep them no longer than 3-4 weeks, tops).