Old method of storing eggs?

[luvrulz]

A dear friend from the farmer's mkt asked me today why her momma would store their eggs in a crock of clear liquid. She said that her mom would only use these eggs for baking - not for eating. What is the theory? There was liquid (water?) over the eggs and her mom passed away when she was 14 (she's 80 now...) and she wondered why she did it that way.

Anyone ever here of keeping eggs that way - before fridges became so common? I think she said she grew up on a farm in Alberta....? And was it water or what?

[Jennifer L.]

Waterglass is what it was called. Someone else must know the actual chemical name. The way it works is to block the oxygen from the eggs--it's an early method of controlled atmosphere storage. My mother said the shells would soften over time stored this way, and they could get a musty smell that was ok in baking, but you didn't want to eat them fresh as the taste wasn't quite the same anymore.

Jennifer

[DQ]

i think it is called water glassing...water and sodium silicate???...

[chickenista]

You can dip the eggs in melted wax and let it harden as an alternate to water glass too.

[luvrulz]

How long will they keep - was it a spring or winter thing?? or anytime thing? Thanks by the way - had never heard of it and I told her I knew somewhere to go for the answer!!! :-)

[uyk7]

I also read that you can place the eggs in salt. Just make sure the eggs are completely surrounded by the salt. Seems that eggs stored this way were still good to eat two years later. Can't remember where I read this though.


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[stickinthemud]

I read once of eggs being shipped west by covered wagon packed in a barrel of lard. Don't know if it was pure fiction or based on fact.

[Harry Chickpea]

Go to the TMEN website. They had an article on various storage methods for eggs and the results. I forget what they found to be best (other than refrigeration).

[Bonnie L]

Originally Posted by stickinthemud

I read once of eggs being shipped west by covered wagon packed in a barrel of lard. Don't know if it was pure fiction or based on fact.

We read the same book!

[Yvonne's hubby]

I am pretty sure the liquid would have been the water glass method mentioned above. My great grandfather, (and family) traveled a goodly amount in a covered wagon during the late 1800s and early part of the twentieth century, they stowed the eggs in the flour barrels. Seems like the stories I heard they were dipped in wax first though. I know they kept meat products in lard in metal tins to keep it from spoiling.

[sgl42]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_...d_preservation

Food preservation

Sodium silicate was also used as an egg preservation agent in the early 20th Century with large success. When fresh eggs are immersed in it, bacteria which cause the eggs to spoil are kept out and water is kept in. Eggs can be kept fresh using this method for up to nine months. When boiling eggs preserved this way, it is well advised to pin-prick the egg to allow steam to escape because the shell is no longer porous.

An article in The Mother Earth News offers actual test results for this and other methods of preservation. LINK

from a 1920s cookbook:

http://www.classic-cooking-school.co..._of_eggs.shtml

Home Preseration Of Eggs

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Susta...igeration.aspx

How To Store Fresh Eggs

We experimented with various methods of storing fresh eggs, both with no refrigeration and for a long haul in a refrigerator.

--sgl

[susieM]

I read that book, too...darned if I can remember the title, though.

I have heard of 'buttered' eggs. Fresh eggs rubbed with sweet (unsalted) butter. I'd think the butter would go rancid in time, though.

[luvrulz]

Wow! What a wealth of info! Thanks!

[PezzoNovante]

The eggs need to be only hours old if they are going to be preserved.

[texican]

Best way of storing em? In a hen! Just go out every day or so, and request a couple. If you've got em trained well, they'll put em where you want them.

And if you don't have em trained well, they'll lay where they shouldn't, like in the milk parlor (GF simply loves getting pecked by a sitting hen).

[DamnearaFarm]

Oh Lord, Texican- I love it!

I read that book too, y'all and danged if I can remember the title or much else about it.....

[Sara K]

You can buy the waterglass mixture at Lehman's

Sara

[Shrek]

I read a book about the tall ships in school and there was something about eggs being stored in brine water in the ships pantry if the ship didn't have laying hens on board. That may be what y'all are rteferring to.

[naturelover]

During the depression years my mother used to ship fresh eggs overseas to relatives in Britain. She layered them inside big lard tins with melted paraffin wax poured over them. The wax was a bonus because they needed that too for making candles.

I've preserved duck eggs in a waterglass solution - they keep for about 6 - 8 months but need to be kept in a fairly cool, dark place. A stoneware crock is the best thing to use for storing eggs in waterglass.

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