What to do with all these eggs?

To pickle or not to pickle, that is the question many people face when it comes to quail eggs.

You see, quail are very prolific layers for such small birds. The Coturnix, which we will be talking about today, start to lay between six and eight weeks of age and can lay for up to a year. In some cases, even longer, but I wouldn't recommend going much longer than that if you would still like to put some extra meat in the freezer.

So, now you have a large flock of quail that are steadily giving you an egg a day per hen. In some cases, as is the case here, you are getting more eggs a day than you can stick in the incubator. If you are not NPIP certified, nor tested by TDVLM for Typhoid / Pullorum then you are not going to be able to (legally) sell these extra eggs. So what do you do with them?

Well there are lots of things you can do with quail eggs.

You can scramble them, fry them up, heck you can even bake with them! You can do anything with a quail egg that you can do wit ha chicken egg. They're just smaller. On average it takes about 4 quail eggs to make up for 1 large egg in a recipe, so bake away! Just remember your portions!

Or!

My favorite! You can pickle them!

Pickling eggs is a learned hobby. Too much vinegar, or too little, will ruin the entire batch. There are many recipes to follow and it can all get a bit overwhelming. So where to begin? Where do you put your time and effort? Let's start by the boil. An over boiled egg will turn green inside, hardening and changing the texture and taste. An under boiled egg will be soft inside and often runny, creating a mush in your mouth as you bite into it. No one wants to eat an egg that was improperly cooked.

Typically your perfect cook time on quail eggs is about 8 minutes long. Boiling them in vinegar will help soften the egg shells without ruining the taste and makes them easier to peel. Make sure your water is at a good rolling boil and your eggs are room temperature before you drop the eggs in. If you put your eggs in before the water is boiling, you may end up under cooking them.

Once you remove your eggs from the boiling water, immediately drop them into an ice bath. This again will help you with the peeling process. Let them cool in the ice bath while you finish your next batch.

The eggs have cooled and it's time to peel! Rinse in vinegar, wash with water, and repeat. By now the shells should pretty well be falling off of the eggs.

I hope you pre-prepped your mason jars and your pickling recipes! Drop your eggs in and let them sit! I typically let eggs sit for about a week in whatever 'seasoning' I have placed in the jars to make sure the eggs have soaked up the tastes.

Decorate your jars and off you go! You're ready to eat those lovely eggs. Give them away to family members or let your own family gobble them up. They sure are a hit!

Some of the things I like to add to my eggs are: jalapeno, habanero, pickles!, beets, pepper corn, and just about anything spicy. If you're not into spicy there are tons of recipes out there to choose from, and we hope you enjoy your quail (and eggs) as much as we do here!

Happy hatching!

Kate

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