What goes in the jar
Lynn lays everything out first: eggs, jalapeno peppers, white sugar, garlic powder, turmeric, molasses, and a couple of garlic cloves. To that she adds apple cider vinegar for the brine and regular white vinegar to top the jar off at the end, plus a jar to put them in. The jar she uses is about a two and a half quart jar. She does not count the eggs out on camera.
She says more than once that this is only the starting point. You can add more sugar or less depending on how sweet you want them, and put vegetables in it like sweet peppers or purple onions, but what she is making today is the basic cowboy candy pickled eggs. The full walkthrough is on the video page.
Boiling and peeling the eggs
The eggs go first because they take the longest. She fills a pot about halfway with water, turns it on medium high, and lets it come to a good boil. Before each egg goes in she does a little trick on the bottom of the egg that she says makes them shell perfectly every time, and she points to a separate video of hers that shows exactly how it is done. She lowers the eggs into the boiling water with a spoon so she does not burn her fingers. She does not say how long she boils them.
When they come out she makes an ice bath for them while the brine cools, and by peeling time the shell falls right off.
The jalapenos and garlic
For a jar that size she uses three jalapenos, and she takes the seeds out. That is a heat decision more than anything: leave the seeds in if you like them more spicy, take them out if you want the peppers just for flavor. While she is handling them she says to wear gloves or be ready to wash your hands three or four times.
She slices the peppers into little bitty pieces, and mentions that you could leave them whole if you like eating a big piece of jalapeno. The garlic in this batch is around four cloves of prepackaged garlic she wanted to use up, chopped into big little chunks for flavor, and she says minced garlic would work instead.
The sweet-hot brine
The brine starts with two cups of apple cider vinegar in a pot on low medium. Into that goes a cup and a half of white sugar, and instead of brown sugar she stirs in about a tablespoon of molasses. She keeps mixing so the sugar does not stick to the bottom, then adds a quarter teaspoon of cayenne, followed by a teaspoon of garlic powder and a level teaspoon of turmeric, which she is careful not to heap.
Then the jalapenos and garlic go in and she gives the brine a good mix, and she takes a moment to say not to throw leftover brine out: put it in the refrigerator and pickle something else with it another day, even cucumbers. It cooks until the sugar is dissolved, and then she cuts it off and lets it sit and cool while she peels the eggs. One warning she gives from experience: turmeric will stain, so keep it off your clothes.
Filling the jar and the week in the fridge
With the peeled eggs in the jar, she uses a funnel and pours the brine slowly over the top of them. Her brine came up short of filling the jar, so rather than cook a second batch she tops it off with plain white vinegar the way she saw another lady do it. The lid goes on, and she works the jar around gently to settle the peppers and garlic down among the eggs without spilling the brine.
Then it waits. She sets it in the back of the refrigerator and lets it sit about a week before they are ready to eat. She likes them as a snack to have on hand, and says that if you are doing a high protein diet you would be getting the protein from the eggs, though it does have some sugar in it. Anything the video leaves you wondering, you can Ask Lynn.
For canning and preserving, follow Lynn's video together with current tested guidance from your national or state extension service.