Preserving Eggs for Winter: A Guide to Egg Preservation Techniques

Egg preservation is an essential skill for backyard chicken keepers, especially during the winter months when egg production slows down. Preserved eggs can provide a delicious and nutritious source of protein during the cold weather months. In this article, we will explore different methods of preserving eggs, including sealing, salting, storing in a cold dry place, pickling, and creating a hundred-year-old egg using hydrated lime.

Sealing Eggs with Wax or Fat

Sealing eggs involves applying wax or fat to the pores of the egg to prevent moisture from entering. This method is mentioned in John's video, which recommends sealing the egg with wax or using some kind of fat. The idea behind this process is that it seals the pores of the egg and thus preserves it. To seal an egg, you can use a variety of materials, including beeswax, paraffin wax, or even cooking fat. Simply apply the wax or fat to the egg in a thin layer, making sure to cover all surfaces evenly.

Salting Eggs

Another method of preserving eggs is salting them, which changes the texture and flavor of the egg. This process involves coating the egg in a layer of salt, which acts as a natural preservative. Salted eggs can be stored for several months and are often used in traditional cooking methods. To create salted eggs, simply coat the egg in a thin layer of kosher salt or sea salt, making sure to cover all surfaces evenly.

Storing Eggs in a Cold Dry Place

Storing eggs in a cold dry place is another method of preserving them. This involves placing the eggs in a cool, dry location, such as a cellar or pantry, where they can be kept at a consistent temperature below 40°F (4°C). The key to this method is to keep the eggs away from direct sunlight and moisture, which can cause them to spoil.

Pickling Eggs

Pickling eggs involves soaking the egg in a brine solution, typically made with vinegar, salt, and spices. This process acts as a natural preservative, allowing the egg to be stored for several months. To create pickled eggs, simply soak the egg in the brine solution for several weeks or months, depending on desired level of preservation.

Creating Hundred-Year-Old Eggs using Hydrated Lime

The most unique method of preserving eggs discussed in this article is creating a hundred-year-old egg using hydrated lime. This process involves soaking the egg in a solution made from hydrated lime, which acts as a natural preservative and adds flavor to the egg. The hydrated lime solution is typically made by mixing one ounce of lime with one quart of water, creating a fine slurry that can be applied to the egg.

Using Hydrated Lime Solution

To create a hundred-year-old egg using hydrated lime, simply mix one ounce of hydrated lime with two quarts of water in a glass bowl. The mixture should resemble a thin slurry. Add the eggs to the jar and coat them evenly with the hydrated lime solution. Make sure to cover all surfaces of the egg, including the yolk and white. The jar can be sealed with a lid or plastic wrap.

Important Considerations for Egg Preservation

Before attempting any method of egg preservation, it's essential to consider a few key factors. First, use very fresh eggs, as they will hold their quality better during the preservation process. Second, avoid washing the eggs before preserving them, as this can remove the natural coating that helps preserve the egg. Finally, make sure to store the preserved eggs in a cool, dry place, away from direct sunlight and moisture.

Conclusion

Preserving eggs is an essential skill for backyard chicken keepers, especially during the winter months when egg production slows down. By using various methods of preservation, such as sealing, salting, storing in a cold dry place, pickling, and creating a hundred-year-old egg using hydrated lime, you can enjoy a delicious and nutritious source of protein throughout the year. Whether you're a seasoned chicken keeper or just starting out, these techniques are sure to provide a unique and rewarding experience for any egg enthusiast.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: engreetings my beautiful lovelies it's Emmy welcome back today's video is sponsored by glasses usa.com where you can find stylish sunglasses and glasses you can actually choose from over 4,000 different styles of in-house and name brands and then you can have it delivered right to your doorstep I use the virtual mirror tool to find a pair of glasses that would work for my face a basic pair of glasses including the frame and glasses start at $30 and you can get specialty lenses as well including bifocals and progressives try it absolutely risk-free there free returns free shipping and if you return them within 14 days it's a hundred percent money-back guarantee no questions asked be sure to click the link down below to see how you can receive a special offer from glasses usa.com so before we prepare our eggs help me to choose a pair of glasses so how about the ones I'm wearing now I quite fancy these alrighty how about these how about a pair of sunglasses how about these and finally one last pair of sunglasses so I will put my original ones back on so let me know down the comments which one of these glasses were your favorites now lets us prepare the eggs so let me talk a little bit about egg preservation so right now we're well into spring and my chickens are laying like crazy but during the winter time things tend to slow down so preserving your eggs for winter is a good idea because you don't have eggs then so we've become quite spoiled now we can just walk to the grocery store and say I'd like a dozen eggs please but back in the day when you raise your own chickens you use your chicken eggs and in the winter time things tend to slow down the chickens are not producing or not producing as much so it would be nice to have some eggs so I researched a bunch of different ways to preserve eggs so I watched Townsend Sons video thank you guys so much for all recommending watching their videos and like always I will put all the videos and the blogs that I researched for this video in the description down below so in John's video he mentioned six different ways to preserve eggs including sealing the egg you can use wax or you can use some kind of fat the idea being that you seal the pores of the egg and thus preserving it there's also a method of salting it which changes the texture and the flavor of the egg of course because you're salting it another means of preservation is simply storing the egg in a cold dry place like your refrigerator but before refrigeration people would use their cellars you could pack it in something like sawdust something that would cushion it and then again reduce the amount of evaporation through the pores pickling was another method you would cook the egg and then put the eggs in some kind of brine store them in your cellar of course that method cooks the egg and also changes the flavors so the application of that particular process is kind of narrowed another very interesting technique which I am dying to try I'm getting all the materials for this so look for this video soon is to create a hundred or a thousand year old egg and basically you're making an alkalis mud that you coat the egg in and it totally changes and the egg but preserves it indefinitely so look for that video and soon I'm super excited about it but today I'm going to show you a technique of preserving the egg in slake s-- or hydrated lime now some people call this water glassing but technically this is not water glassing water glassing eggs also uses a solution that you submerge the eggs in but that uses sodium silicate now sodium silicate is actually still sold at the hardware store you can purchase it and you can use it to preserve your eggs it is used to seal cement or concrete floors it's a sealant so you make a solution of the sodium silicate and water and it seals the egg so I've read that this process works quite well although the white portion of the egg does denature and the best application of these type of eggs be something in like baking so the reason why I chose not to use sort of silicate in my preservation process is that some of the sodium silicate probably enters the egg reasonably it does enter the egg so I don't really want to be consuming any of the sodium silicate so I decided not to opt for that but use another process that has equally good results and it uses hydrated lime now this process also submerges the eggs into a solution but it is not technically water glassing because we're not sealing the egg so I was trying to research the exact reason why this works and I came up kind of empty-handed so science friends chemistry friends do let me know in the comments how this works so the process takes lime which is calcium oxide which is heated up and then water is introduced h2o which then forms calcium hydroxide and this is the hydrated lime now hydrated lime is used in all kinds of different applications food and otherwise also in concrete makings you can actually go to the hardware store and buy a 50-pound bag of calcium hydroxide or hydrated lime because they use it in concrete making although it's a lot cheaper I don't really have a use for a 50-pound bag of hydrated or slick solution so I opted for this this is mrs. wages pickling lime it's the same exact thing it's granted much more expensive but a much smaller amount so this process is really simple we're just going to combine the higher lime with water and create a lime solution the proportions are really simple we're going to take one ounce by weight of the lime and add it to one quart of water we want to make enough of this solution to submerge our eggs so you want to make sure everything you're using is nonreactive either ceramic or enamel or glass and then we are going to store the eggs in something that's nonreactive as well traditionally I think it was done in a large crock that was kept in the cellar with a nice little lid or something on top to kind of the wort evaporation so got myself a glass bowl here so two ounces of my hydrated lime and two quarts of water wow that's really fine look so it's like kind of like a slurry add the rest of my water there is our hydrated lime solution now it's really important to use very very fresh eggs when doing this preservation process these eggs came out of our hen house and you want them to be super fresh also it's important not to wash the eggs the eggs have a natural coating on them and when you wash the eggs that coating is removed so it's seneschal that that coating remains I'm gonna be using a glass gallon sized jar so you can see the eggs plastic Ostin works as well now we're gonna take the eggs and place them into the jar it's said to do them pointy side down but I don't really know how you can do that without having the eggs tip over and from my understanding what you would do is you make your solution and then as you get more eggs in you can just place them into the jar so in about six months time I'm gonna do a follow-up video I'm going to cook these eggs I'm gonna fry them I'm gonna try baking with them I want to see exactly how AG like these are so stay tuned for that video okay so placing all my eggs in fear being very gentle now we're going to top this with our hydrated lime solution and spill it all over your counter put all of it in there it kind of wants to set also put it back in so that's that a dozen eggs and some hydrated lime solution we're gonna let this sit in a cool dark place with a lid on it and in six months I'm going to test these eggs that should be an interesting experiment big things two glasses usa.com for sponsoring this video be sure to click the link down below to see how you can get your special offer and yeah get yourself a pair of affordable glasses thank you guys so much for watching I hope you guys enjoyed that one I hope you guys learn something please share this video through friends follow me on social media like this video subscribe and I shall see you in the next one to glue take care Hey\n"