Spring has sprung! What better way to celebrate the beginning of the season of rebirth and fertility than by paying homage to the humble egg?

In his latest book, The Art of Fermentation, author and fermenting guru Sandor Katz writes about several traditional methods of fermenting eggs throughout the ages:

• Bury peeled, hard-boiled eggs into a crock of fermenting vegetables. The acidity of the fermenting brine will protect the eggs from nasty pathogens.
• “Century” or “thousand-year-old” eggs from Chinese cuisine, in which raw eggs are preserved in a paste made from baking soda, lime (not the fruit), salt and ash, and stored for 3 months.
• In the Basque country (Spain), they made a simple brine of water and lime to keep eggs preserved through the winter months, when hens don’t lay as many.
• Miso eggs- in this style, egg yolks are pressed into a layer of red miso and fermented for a few days. The taste and texture resemble cheese.

We also found a simple brine recipe for lacto-fermented purple eggs (dyed with beet juice) from Melanie over at the Pickle Me Too blog.

We haven’t done much experimenting fermenting eggs ourselves yet, but one of our favorite ways to enjoy eggs is soft-cooked over some kimchi! 🙂