After two and half weeks of food purgatory, the cleanse is officially over. Though I was jonesing for ice cream, loaves of sourdough, and PIZZA, I am totally fine with continuing to avoid these foods and only indulging occasionally. My head is clearer, I naturally have more energy, and my taste buds woke up. Wait, what?
Now that I cut out sugar, wheat, and most of dairy, I enjoy more sour, fermented, bitter goodness on every plate – whether it’s snacking on raw radishes or spooning kraut onto my salad. Now when I bite into a croissant, it’s too yeasty, or into my favorite cookie, it’s just cloying. Suddenly I’m tasting more flavors in other foods I thought were plain, and it’s pretty freaking awesome. I love the fact that you can manually reboot taste buds.
So with my newfound (tasting) powers, I’m experimenting with more fermented foods. I mean, with great power comes great responsibility, right? 🙂 So after I heard about pickled eggs, I had to make them at home.
One thing to keep in mind when pickling, jamming, and marmalade-ing is the crazy amount of sugar used. A little here and there won’t kill you, but I’m trying to see how long I can go without refined sugar – indefinitely. (Especially with pickles which only need a little bit of sweetness to counter the sour vinegar base.)
Besides substitutes like honey or maple syrup, a naturally sweet option is beetroot. Beets are in season year-round, they have phytonutrients and fiber, and they give a pink-Midas hand to anything they touch. Clothes, cutting boards, and now eggs. I normally hate the color pink, but this deep magenta is pretty enthralling. Just remember to wear that stained, hand-me-down apron when making the recipe.
