Canning eggs

[ChickenPotPie]

A handyman was doing work for us recently. He saw we had birds so he struck up a conversation about their eggs. He said that you could can or jar chicken eggs and they'd stay good "forever". I'm guessing he meant at least a year.

He said it's an Asian thing. lol. They're not pickled, they're brined. you put them in salt water. Has anyone tried this? How'd it turn out? Did you like it? I'm very curious about this because it sounds like an easy way to preserve them.

 

[justusnak]

Hmmmmmmm
Never heard of it....but interesting.

 

[big brown horse]

We grew up pickeling hard boiled eggs. Never heard of brineing them. I am courious too.

 

[keljonma]

According to Carla Emery in Encyclopedia of Country Living:

Brined Eggs - an old time egg preservation method, but the resulting eggs aren't as nice as those from cold storage or freezing. Nevertheless, here's the recipe:
Put clean eggs in a crockery, wooden, or plastic container. Cover with a mixture of 3 gallon water, 1 pint quicklime (from drugstore or lumberyard), and 1 cup salt. Put weight enough on top of a plate to hold eggs under the solution. You can add more eggs later, but be careful they don't crack going in. Store in a cool place.

 

[keljonma]

Carla Emery has a couple other salted egg preservation recipes in Encyclopedia of Country Living:

Larded Salted Eggs - The old timers used many variations of this method to preserve eggs. The eggs were packed in a crock of lard, or greased with lard or pure butter and then packed in sawdust or oatmeal. They were then stored in the coolest possible place, short of freezing. However, Mother Earth News experimented and learned that eggs in lard will keep several months even when the temperatures are 65 - 70F. But cold is always better. An Ohio lady, Yolanda Breidenbaugh, wrote me of "a good, cheap way to preserve eggs. It works wonderfully well. Over a year later the eggs aren't even rotted. Here it is: Take freshly laid clean eggs and dip them in melted lard and pack in salt! I put them, not touching each other, in a 5-gallon bucket and set the lid on and put it in a cool cellar. I got 'feed grade' salt at the feed mill. When I want to use one, I just rinse it off with warm water. Even a year later, they are still okay. Certainly good enough to cook with."

Lime/Salt Preserved Eggs - Make a solution containing 16 parts water, 1 part pickling salt, and 2 parts food grade lime. For example, one part equals one cup. Submerge the eggs in that. Mother Earth News tested this one and found it also would preserve eggs several months, even at 65 - 70F.

 

[keljonma]

I haven't tried any of those recipes. We make pickled eggs occasionally, but that is about it.

 

[ChickenPotPie]

Hey, thank you. At least I know a little bit more now. I may try it sometime as we have sooo many extra eggs.

 

[freemotion]

If you do a search on the Mother Earth News site, you will find a test they did of all the old-time methods for storing eggs, as well as simply refrigerating them. It is worth searching for and reading if you are going to store eggs.

I ended up simply keeping them in my fridge and marking the dates on them. They will keep in the fridge for about 4 months. That will get most people through the winter if you don't have enough hens to keep your family in eggs when production slows down (if you don't use lights...I don't.)

 

[2dream]

Free - I don't mind eating my eggs out of the fridge that are 2 months old but after that I find when I crack them the yellows usually break before hitting the bowl and they look watery. Maybe my fridge is not cold enough. What temps are you using in your fridge. (I have an old fridge that I keep just for eggs and nothing else).

I bought a churn because I was going to use the waterglass method of storage but after I read the MENs article and research I decided on just using the fridge. If I ever end up with out electricity I can always use the alternative waterglass.

 

[freemotion]

My fridge is very cold in the back (it will freeze lettuce if it gets pushed too far back) and that is where I store things for longer storage. I don't really have to keep eggs that long, two months is more like it, since I usually have a few hens laying through the winter since I switched to cold-hardy breeds. Last winter we actually got down to NO EGGS in the house after breakfast one day, but then we gradually got stocked up again. I thought for a few hours that I might have to buy eggs.....then I promised the girls some extra treats if they would get their little fluffy fannies into the nest boxes. They obliged!