Long term egg storage

[FarmerChick]

http://preparednesspro.wordpress.com/2009/05/18/preserving-fresh-eggs/

Anyone ever try this long term storage? seems like they would not last?? good info to know tho but 'just seems' off to me LOL



Here are the basics of preserving eggs:

1.Be sure to use only fresh eggs. If any decomposition occurs, you will be unsuccessful. Also exposure to extreme heat or cold will hinder your preservation process.

2.You can use an oil as well, but the oil can go rancid not exactly what I would want on my eggs.

3.Store the eggs in a finely ground preservative such as salt, bran, or an equal mix of finely ground charcoal and dry bran or finely ground oats. You can also store them in finely ground plaster of Paris, but thats not exactly something that I plan on having on hand regularly. You can store the eggs layer upon layer, so long as you they dont touch each other, metal, or wood. Be sure you have enough finely ground preservative to pack them in. (You can feed the salt and bran to the cattle afterwards.)

4.Store the eggs small side down.

5.Store the eggs in a covered container and keep in a cool, dry place. You dont want to store them in freezing temperatures.

6.Eggs will keep fresh for up to 9 months. In fact, some countries are known to have stored their eggs like this for up to 2 years.

 

[BirdBrain]

Don't know about doing that, but I will tell you that freezing eggs in the shell works quite well. I have always heard that the way to freeze eggs was to scramble them and freeze them in ice cube trays. That was always more work than I wanted to do. Then, this winter we had a long spell of really cold weather (10-20 below zero) and there were days that I couldn't get out there often enough to collect eggs before they were frozen. Yes, the shell was always cracked from end to end, but if I left them frozen til later, and or let them thaw in the refridge, they always fried up nice. One morning I took one of those frozen eggs and cut sideways slices and layed them side by side in the skillet. My son thought I had fried a quadruple yolker.

 

[terri9630]

You can use mineral oil. My Grandmother used to use bacon fat and my Aunt did to but started using mineral oil when it was easy to get. If you fill/close the pores of the shell oxygen cant get in and make the egg go bad. My grand mother had a system that had her rotating the eggs and we had fresh eggs all winter. When the hens were laying a lot she would oil them all and the oldest was used first. We ate LOTS of eggs on the ranch!

 

[~gd]

http://preparednesspro.wordpress.com/2009/05/18/preserving-fresh-eggs/

Anyone ever try this long term storage? seems like they would not last?? good info to know tho but 'just seems' off to me LOL



Here are the basics of preserving eggs:

1.Be sure to use only fresh eggs. If any decomposition occurs, you will be unsuccessful. Also exposure to extreme heat or cold will hinder your preservation process.

2.You can use an oil as well, but the oil can go rancid not exactly what I would want on my eggs.

3.Store the eggs in a finely ground preservative such as salt, bran, or an equal mix of finely ground charcoal and dry bran or finely ground oats. You can also store them in finely ground plaster of Paris, but thats not exactly something that I plan on having on hand regularly. You can store the eggs layer upon layer, so long as you they dont touch each other, metal, or wood. Be sure you have enough finely ground preservative to pack them in. (You can feed the salt and bran to the cattle afterwards.)

4.Store the eggs small side down.

5.Store the eggs in a covered container and keep in a cool, dry place. You dont want to store them in freezing temperatures.

6.Eggs will keep fresh for up to 9 months. In fact, some countries are known to have stored their eggs like this for up to 2 years.

That method sounds a lot like the 'century egg' consummed in Asia (see link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_year_egg ) If that is what you want fine and good. As a child brought up on a farm without electrical power we used to keep eggs over the winter in a cool DAMP cellar. In fact we put all our eggs under those conditions for keeping. I think the cool part is apparent, but the Moist part isn't. Eggs can "breath" the shell does not keep air or moisture in or out over the longer term. The eggs can and do lose moisture through the shell if stored cool and dry. the result is very thick whites and yokes that don't fry up right. If the water is replaced and mixed in they will work for baking or scrambling.
For really long term storage the eggs would be dipped in "water glass" a solution of sodium silicate that would dry and seal the pores in the eggshell with a thin clear glass like substance that would not allow gas to pass through the shell. Water glass is hard to find now but it was used then as the glue to use to glue cardboard boxes together. We would start preserving eggs in the fall while the hens were laying well and they would last right through winter until the hens started laying again in the spring. ~gd

 

[k15n1]

For really long term storage the eggs would be dipped in "water glass" a solution of sodium silicate that would dry and seal the pores in the eggshell with a thin clear glass like substance that would not allow gas to pass through the shell.

I've heard of just coating the eggs and actuall storing them in jars of water glass. Which did you do, GD?

Also, my understanding is that century eggs are made under fairly harsh alkali conditions, which you would not get in charcoal, etc, mentioned above.

 

[Old Sew'n'Sew]

That blog is a good source of information and I have been reading it for months, but, I am too "chicken" to try this without refrigeration.

This year I started saving fresh eggs in October in the fridge,by wiping them clean and putting them in cartons in the bottom. I stacked them, about 9 dozen to get us through the winter, I turned the cartons over weekly, kept track of rotating, in first> out first, I now have 19 fresh eggs that are'nt too old. I have used eggs every day for two people and recipes. It really helped that 3 or 4 of the younger hens did not stop laying and we are now getting 1 to 3 eggs a day out of 16 girls. I expect them to start up laying again in a couple more weeks. The girls range in age 2 to 5 years old. Yes we are running a retirement home in our back yard.

If anyone tries it without refrigeration, that would be interesting to learn about.

I can tell you I tried the canning of butter, and again I am too chicken to use it. Some of the jars have visable signs of spoilage so I don't want to try the ones that look okay.

I have purchased # ten cans of powdered eggs and butter powder just in case.

 

[SSDreamin]

I want to try waxing eggs. Oiling/water glassing them, supposedly, changes the taste, so I'm not sure I want to go that route. I have cheese wax that I can use, although all the stuff I've read use paraffin. I will water test them before cracking open/eating though, just in case!

 

[moolie]

If you don't wash eggs (keep them just as they came out of the bird) they keep just fine out of the fridge for months. The eggs get coated in a type of protein as they "exit" the chicken that seals the pores. It's when you wash it off that you need to worry about porosity.

They don't refrigerate eggs in Europe or England in the grocery stores, nor do our friends who live there after they've bought them.

 

[ORChick]

Last year I read an article from MEN or somewhere similar (probably got the link from someone here ) about a test they did, keeping eggs. They tried refrigerated, not refrigerated, washed, not washed, in waterglass (I think), and various other methods, testing each group of eggs once a week. They found that the longest keeping and best tasting were unwashed eggs kept in a box in the 'fridge. Winter before last I got 2 (two) eggs from my girls for the whole of December, and was determined to not have to buy eggs during the holiday baking season again. So in October I stopped giving away the extra eggs, put them in egg cartons, marked the date, and kept the cartons in a plastic sweater box that I had in the closet. I keep one dozen in the 'fridge in the kitchen; the sweater box is in the 'fridge in the garage. When I need more eggs I get the oldest carton out of the sweater box, and bring it inside. (Sweater box holds 4 cartons, and the girls have been able to keep at least 2 cartons full throughout the winter; there are more, and younger, hens this year than last) This winter I have not had to buy any eggs. They are all fine and tasty, though sometimes they spread out a bit more than very fresh eggs. I would say that at no time have I had eggs that are even as old as supermarket eggs usually are. So, no more freezing the eggs (I never remember to bring them out to defrost) and no more buying eggs in December. I've never seriously considered oiling, waxing or waterglassing them, but now I know I don't need to. I am convinced that this method would also work almost as well without refrigeration if one had a cool place (cooler than I have ) to keep them. Just have to remember to start the stockpile before they all start to molt

 

[ORChick]

This is the link to the study that I referenced above:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Sustainable-Farming/1977-11-01/Fresh-Eggs.aspx