Tea Eggs

I'm sure every other foodie out there has already tried their hands at these, but this is my first try.


Tea eggs are boiled eggs, that are then cracked all over with the back of a spoon; but leaving the shell as intact as possible. The eggs are then simmered for quite some time in a tea bath with other spices and herbs. I decided to skip soy sauce, being gluten free, but you'll want to add a salt source; black tea, orange peel,and star anise. 

I read wildly varying amounts of time for simmering the eggs, from 40 minutes to 5 hours. I went with about two hours and I would try a longer time or more concentrated bath. Still they were really tasty with a subtle hint of all the flavors. The sauce seeps through the cracks to flavor the eggs and leaves pretty designs, which can be much darker than what I did.

I'll be trying this again, with other spice combinations, like Madrone bark, as suggested in a blog my friend Nina posted, from Hunter, Gardner, Angler, Cook