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National Center for Home Food Preservation | How Do I? Pickle
Pickled
Eggs HACCP
Pickled Egg Production
Pickled Sausage
Corned Beef
PICKLED EGGS HACCP
Copyright 1998 by O.
Peter Snyder, Jr., Ph.D.
Hospitality Institute
of Technology and Management
Let me begin by considering the question of Clostridium
botulinum in the eggs. Clostridium botulinum has never
been identified as invading the egg. The FDA acknowledges this by
identifying air-cooled, hard-boiled eggs as not being a
potentially hazardous food. So, without C. botulinum as a
concern getting into the middle of the egg, the food safety issue
is to take care of the contamination of the eggs after they are
cooked and peeled. At that point they are decontaminated,
especially by pathogens from your hands.
Let's use as ingredients for the recipe those identified in "So
Easy to Preserve" (3rd ed.) from The University of Georgia
Cooperative Extension Service. This calls for:
16 fresh eggs
2 tablespoons whole allspice 2 tablespoons whole peppercorns
2 tablespoons ground ginger
4 cups white vinegar, nominal 5% acetic acid acidity
2 tablespoons sugar
This recipe can be adjusted for how many eggs you want to make.
PROCESS:
- Make enough pickling solution in a stainless steel or glass
pot to cover the eggs. Cover and bring to 200F.
- Get a deep pan of water in which to set the jars with the
eggs in solution when they are hot packed. The water should come
up 3/4 of the jars' height (or higher if possible without
floating the jars) after the jars are packed with eggs and
placed in the pan. Bring water to a simmer, 200F.
- Now, hard boil the eggs. This means cook about 12-14 min in
boiling water until the eggs have a center temperature of about
195F. The eggs should be about two weeks old, because they will
peel better. All of the vegetative pathogenic cells are killed,
but not the spores. The vinegar will control the spores.
- When the eggs are hard boiled, remove, peel them hot. As
they are peeled, do not break the surface of the egg white so
that they remain whole. If the surface is broken the bacteria
will be able to penetrate further into the eggs and be a little
harder to control.
- Fill each jar loosely with warm eggs. Now, fill jars
carefully with the vinegar solution at 200F. There needs to be
enough solution to cover the eggs completely. Leave as little
air space at the top as you can. Yeast and mold can grow in the
air space under some conditions.
- Put the filled jars into the hot water bath. Loosely lid
each jar. Let them stay in the bath until the temperature of the
liquid in each jar gets above 180F.
- Tighten the lids. Place jars on the counter for about 2
hours so that they can air cool to room temperature.
- Clean up.
- Store the eggs. The flavor will change slowly with time as
they chemically spoil. But the micro is taken care of. The
cooler you store them, as in your basement, the slower the
chemical changes in the eggs. I would eat them in 6 months to
assure good quality.
The critical control is the vinegar and low pH, which prevents
the spores from growing in the cooked bottled eggs.
This is a HACCP procedure. The spices can be changed, if
desired, because the final pasteurization will assure that the
microorganisms in the spices are destroyed. Do not, however,
change the vinegar, sugar, or times and temperatures that I have
mentioned, because they are critical controls. Putting the lids on
the jars loosely in the pan allows the inside of the jars to
become thoroughly pasteurized. This will prevent mold or yeast
problems growing on the surface under the lid and spoiling the
product.
From
Hospitality Institute of Technology & Management (HITM)
PICKLED EGG PRODUCTION
- For 3-dozen eggs - boil for 15 minutes at
212
°F. Timing starts
once water with eggs is at a hard boil.
- Cool eggs for 5 minutes in ice water.
- Peel eggs and cool in refrigerator for 30
minutes.
- While eggs are cooling, prepare brine (use
5% acid vinegar). Bring brine to a boil and boil for 5 minutes.
- Remove eggs from refrigerator and put in
jars. Pour boiling brine over eggs and seal jars.
- Place jars of eggs back in the
refrigerator for 5 days.
PICKLED SAUSAGES
- Can be used with Polish, hot or Vienna
sausages. Only fully cooked sausages should be used.
- Heat vinegar (5%) and spices until boiling
and pour over the sausages. Spice combinations may vary based
on preferences of the processors.
- Sausages and pickle should be cooled to 40°
F
within 3-4 hours and kept refrigerated for 3-4 days to allow for
the vinegar to penetrate into the sausages. This process will
allow for an equilibration of the pH.
- Product can then be brought to room
temperature for sale. Jars should be kept covered between
sales, and good sanitation practices should be used in removing
sausages from the pickle.
CORNED BEEF
Sweet Pickle Formulation:
- 4 gal. cold water (33.5 lbs.)
-
6 lbs. non-iodized salt
3 lbs. sugar
1 oz. sodium or potassium nitrite
1 oz. pickling spices
This amount of pickle should be sufficient to
cure 15-20 pounds of beef. Other spice combinations can be used
based on the preferences of the processors.
