"More hens' eggs are laid during the months of March, April, May, and June than during the other 8 months of the year. Hence the bulk of the consumption of eggs during the fall and winter months is of eggs that are not fresh laid.
The commercial method of preserving eggs is by means of cold storage in vaults kept at a temperature of 40° F. or less. Eggs are collected all over the United States and stored in the largest cities, whence they are distributed at wholesale and often times sold in the winter months to farmers and others who keep hens, but who are not, at that season, getting enough eggs for their own consumption. The wholesale market recognizes seventeen grades of eggs according to their size, weight, and freshness and the localities from which they come. But the ordinary buyer of eggs is unable to distinguish among them, and often gets a very much cheaper grade of cold-storage egg than she pays for. Hence on all grounds, it is much better and cheaper for those who keep chickens to preserve, in the season when eggs are plentiful, all that are not required for immediate use.
If care is taken, eggs if perfectly fresh when preserved will be nearly, if not quite equal to new. But at all events, home-stored eggs, if properly preserved, will be superior to cold-storage ones, which are often far from fresh when gathered and placed in storage.
Testing Eggs
Eggshells are porous or perforated right through by minute holes for the admission of air needed by the chick for breathing. Hence in time a part of the liquid contents of the egg evaporates. The white and yolk shrink and the resulting emptied space is filled with air. This space is normally at the broad end. And this is the reason why, in storing eggs, the point should always be downward. To test eggs take a candle or electric light or lamp in an otherwise dark room and fit it with a candling chimney, which may be obtained at any poultry store or may be readily made from a piece of cardboard. This is merely a cylinder of cardboard large enough to surround the candle or the lamp chimney, and having a tube inserted at right angles somewhat smaller in diameter than an ordinary egg, and about the level of the flame. Through this the egg can be observed against the light.
Methods of Preserving Eggs.
The object to be secured in preserving eggs is to prevent the evaporation of their contents, and thus prevent the air coming in to fill the space. This may be accomplished by any method of filling the pores of the shell so as to effectually prevent the passage of air. Among the substances recommended for this purpose are mucilage made of gum arabic or gum tragacanth dissolved in water; albumen, or the white of egg; collodion, linseed oil, paraffin; shellac, or other varnish; saltpeter, lard, sugar sirup; finely powdered gypsum, or plaster of Paris, dry salt, and various solutions, as lime, soda, saltpeter, salt, etc., in water.
As the object of all these methods is the same, it becomes merely a question of selecting whatever substance is most readily obtainable and whatever method is most convenient under the circumstances. Hence to preserve eggs, dissolve with gentle heat 1 ounce of gum arabic or gum tragacanth in 1 pint of water, and if too thick, thin with boiling water to the consistency of common mucilage. Remove the mucilage from the fire, allow it to cool and apply it with a soft brush. Have at hand large sheets of blotting paper or a bed of dry sand on which to rest the eggs while the mucilage is drying. If laid on wood or any other hard substance, the mucilage will cause them to stick and they cannot be removed without chipping the shell. After laying down the eggs take care to cover the finger marks where the egg was held. When dry, pack, with the small ends down, in pails, tubs, or cases in dry bran, meal, or flour. Do not use salt with gum arabic or tragacanth as, by attracting moisture, it may cause them to dissolve. If a little of the blotting paper or sand adheres to the egg it will do no harm. When the eggs are required for use, the mucilage can be removed with cold water, taking any foreign substances with it.
Or beat up the white of an egg with a saltspoonful of salt, and apply in the same manner.
Or apply shellac or copal varnish.
Or apply by the same method a thick coating of collodion dissolved in alcohol, or a coating of paraffin or of linseed oil.
Or place in the palm of the hand a little salt butter or pure salted lard, and turn the egg about until every portion of the surface has been covered with the grease. Thus a small amount of lard or butter will cover a large number of eggs. Pack with the small ends down in bran or other substance as described above.
Or pack eggs, greased with salted lard or butter, between layers of common salt. Take care to store in a perfectly dry, well-ventilated place where the eggs will not freeze. Eggs thus stored can be preserved for several months.
Or for home use, dip the egg for 10 or 20 seconds into boiling water. This forms a thin coating of albumen inside of the shell that partially closes the pores. Remove from the boiling water and dip into a thin sugar sirup made by dissolving 5 pounds of brown sugar in a gallon of water, and set aside to dry. Small quantities of eggs may be dipped in these liquids by means of a colander or suspended in a wire or wicker basket. But take care to shake them slightly so that every part of the shell will be exposed to the solutions. When dry, pack as above.
Or to preserve eggs for a longer period of time, they may be immersed in a solution of lime with other substances, in water. The celebrated English patent of Jayne consisted in slaking fresh stone lime in a wooden tub or barrel with just enough water to dissolve it, and afterwards thinning with cold water to a point that will just float a fresh egg. Then, for each bushel of lime, stir in 2 pounds of salt and 1 pound of cream of tartar. Immerse the eggs and keep them below the surface by means of a floating cover of wood weighted just enough to rest upon the eggs without crushing them.
Or for a small quantity of eggs, the same recipe would require about 1 ounce of salt, 1 ounce of cream of tartar, and l quart of lime.
Or a standard American recipe consists in packing the eggs with the small ends down, in a crock or firkin, and covering them with a cold solution of 1 pound of lime, 2 ounces of salt, and 1 ounce of saltpeter, dissolved by stirring in boiling water and allowed to stand overnight before using.
Or to 3 gallons of water, add 1 pint of fresh slaked lime, 1/2 pint of common salt, and 2 ounces of saltpeter. Or a more elaborate recipe calls for 4 pounds of fresh stone lime to be slaked in 12 gallons of water. Stir in 2 pounds of salt and let stand for 24 hours. Decant the pure lime water without disturbing the sediment. Dissolve separately in one gallon of boiling water 21 ounces of soda, 24 ounces of cream of tartar, 21 ounces of saltpeter, 21 ounces of borax, and 1 ounce of alum. Mix this solution with 10 gallons of the pure lime water. Pack the eggs, point down, in suitable tubs or casks, and cover with this liquid. They must be kept below the surface by means of a cloth or wooden cover and suitable weights. This quantity is sufficient for about 75 dozen eggs. The same proportions may be observed for smaller quantities.
Or pack the eggs in stone crocks, points down, and pour over them melted lard as cool as it will blow, or just before it sets, and allow it to harden about them.
Packing Eggs.
To pack eggs for transportation, layers of newspaper or any soft, cheap paper that may be available will be found safer than oats or bran. Crumple a number of newspapers, and lay them in the bot- tom of the box or basket, and bring them up well around the sides. Pack the eggs close together so that they cannot roll against each other. Lay over them 2 or 3 thicknesses of paper, on this another layer of eggs, and so on. Throw over the top 2 or 3 thicknesses of coarse burlap and fasten it around the outside of the package with cord. Eggs packed in this way in a clothes basket may be driven in a wagon over the roughest roads without breaking.
Or to pack for market, obtain an egg case, manufactured for this purpose, which will serve as a model for making cases at home. Or they can be made at trifling expense by the local carpenter. It will be found that the cost of these cases will be more than repaid in convenience and in preventing breakage.
Pickling Eggs.
Prepare a spiced pickling liquid the same as for spiced cucumber or other pickles. Or boil in a cheese-cloth bag for 15 or 20 minutes in 1 quart of white wine or pure cider vinegar, 1 ounce of raw ginger, 1 ounce of allspice, 2 blades of mace, 1 ounce of pepper, 1 ounce of salt, 3 or 4 cloves of garlic, and 1 ounce of mustard seed. Boil for this quantity of pickle, a dozen eggs for 10 minutes. Place to cool in a pan of cold water. Remove the shells, pack them in a crock, and when perfectly cold, pour the pickling liquid over them. Lay over the top a folded cloth to keep the eggs under the pickling liquid, and tie over the top of the jar a thickness of cotton batting. They will be ready to use in about 4 weeks.
Dried Eggs.
Break any quantity of eggs in a suitable receptacle, and beat them well with an egg beater. Spread out in a thin layer on a clean earthenware platter, and let them dry into a paste. Pack closely in glass jars and seal.
Or pour the beaten eggs into glass jars and set the jar in a pan of hot water at about a temperature of 125° F. until the moisture is evaporated and the egg becomes hard. Seal until required for use. They can then be dissolved with about 3 times their own bulk of cold water, and beaten up together, when they will be found to have retained much of their original flavor.
All storage eggs show some shrinkage, and eggs shipped by freight from distant points to a wholesale market, will shrink on the way even if not afterwards preserved in cold storage."
Morse, Sidney. Household Discoveries: An Encyclopaedia of Practical Recipes. NY: 1909
Joachim Beuckelaer. Girl with a basket of eggs. 1560s. National Museum in Warsaw
Preserving Eggs for the Home by Byron Alder. Utah Agricultural College Experiment Station. Circular No. 25. April, 1917.
UPCOMING TALKS 13 talks
Apr 1 Wed 7-8:30 Shifting Landscapes: Slavery and the Built Environment. Panel discussion of virtual tour. Hermann-Grima + Gallier Historic Houses (HGGHH) HERE
Apr 12 Sun 2 The Kingdom of Rye: Russian Food and National Identity. Darra Goldstein. CHoW Culinary Historians of Washington DC. $10 for non-members HERE Info on talk HERE
Apr 13 Mon 8 American Bacon. author Dr. Mark Johnson. Chicago Foodways Roundtable HERE
Apr 14 Tue 5:30 Ireland's Great Famine [1845-1852] in Irish-American History: Memory and Meaning. Mary C. Kelly. Hybrid. Freedom Public Library NH HERE
Apr 15 Wed 7 VPC: Food, Hunger, Scarcity and General Washington’s Continental Army. John Ota. Morris-Jumel Mansion. HERE
Apr 16 Thur 6-7:30 Taste of Revolution: Soldiers’ Food in the War for Independence. Jeff Pavlik. Culinary Historians of Ann Arbor. HERE TAPE may be HERE
Apr 16 Thur 6:30 Breadfruit. The Colorful, Global Story of a Caribbean Staple. Dr. Russell Fielding author of Breadfruit: Three Global Journeys of a Bountiful Tree (Dec2025). Culinary Historians of New York. Nonmembers $13.26 HERE TAPE may be HERE
Apr 16 Thu 6:30-8 Forbidden Fruit - 1000 years of Prohibition. Sumptuary laws covering gin whiskey… David McNicoll author of The Language of Whisky. Brooklyn Brainery. $10 HERE
Apr 23 Thu 1 ANCIENT ROME: Food, Recipes and Traditions. Dr. Martine D. World Virtual Tours HERE
Apr 25 Sat 11 How Macaroni and Cheese Shaped Human History. Karima Moyer-Nocchi. Culinary Historians of Chicago & Culinary History Enthusiasts of Wisconsin (CHEW) HERE TAPE maybe HERE
Apr 26 Sun 8 What Mrs. Fisher Knew, and What We Know Now. Evelyn Rose. Bay Area Culinary Historians BACH HERE
Apr 28 Tue 6 Indigenous Insights for Planetary Health and Sustainable Food Systems. book by Shailesh Shukla & Priscilla Settee. Pépin Lecture. Boston University, Food Studies Programs HERE
Apr 30 Thu 12:30 [5:30 UK] The Globalization of Bubble Tea. Xinwei Zhang. Institute of Historical Research. IHR HERE
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