century egg

i am an ardent FLOggers reader. in my spare time, i like to read about food reviews, recipes, and look at those pictures that will set my gastric juices flow on high. the other day, i came across something unusual (for me). i have heard about it many times before and i have misinterpret the terminology all together. i thought those eggs that you see in the chinese tea/herbal shops are also known as CENTURY EGG. now, i know that i am so damn wrong. they are 2 different things all together. i have eaten the tea/herbal eggs many times and frankly, apart from the rather weird smell, i quite like the taste of the eggs that has been boiling for hours, maybe days, in the herbal concoction.

see, as a person that'd try anything that is weird at least ONCE (but of course must be HALAL la..), i have made a point to look for the CENTURY EGG.

thanks to YY, the new addition to the house, i have finally put my curiosity to rest. coincidentally, she had the century egg with her and she was kind enough to let me try it.


the egg that she gave me must have been the ones that are produced commercially as it came in a nice wrapper. the traditional century eggs are wrapped in rice straw. they are preserved for several weeks or maybe several months. it is called century egg because the appearance of the egg is as if it has been preserved for hundreds of years. it is a chinese delicacy made by preserving the egg in ash, salt, lime, and clay. the egg is not cooked prior.

i was expecting the smell of the egg would be pungent and the taste will just seep right into my sinuses. but that didn't happen. the smell was similar to the smell of a hard-boiled egg, and the taste is, dare i say this, NICE.

it amazes me to see that the egg white has turned into a jelly-like consistency with coffee-brown hue. and the yolk has turned greenish but still is very creamy. i like the white very much as it really does taste like jelly, savoury jelly that is (is there such thing??).

well, if you ask me, i would love to try the REAL thing, meaning the ones that are prepared traditionally. but since i have no idea where i can get some, this one suffices la.... p/s: for those who know where i can get them, lemme know please.

you dare to try?