Preserved Eggs

These processed duck eggs are most commonly referred to as thousand-year-old eggs, or pidan in Mandarin and pei dan in Cantonese. To make them, raw eggs are usually covered with a paste of salt, tea leaves or an infusion of tea leaves, ground rice husks and whole husks, and a preservative—sodium carbonate (lye water)—and left to cure for fifty-eight days. The curing time is precise. Fewer days will result in weak preservation, and more days will yield hard eggs. When the eggs are ready, the shell will have turned a mottled gray, the white will have become a black-brown gelatin, and the yolk will be a deep, dull green. Preserved eggs were once shipped around the world in big, brown earthenware crocks. Nowadays they are packaged, usually six to the box, and labeled “preserved duck eggs.” Although produced throughout China, the eggs from Fujian Province are generally considered the best. They are eaten as a condiment, cold and sliced, and served accompanied by pickled ginger slices. They should not be confused with the salted duck eggs that are cured in a salt solution and eaten with congee.