Say, neighbor, are you as tired of those winter prices for eggs as I am? At least, I was, till I got a quart of this-here Egg Preserver down at Haig's.All you do is mix a quart of it with 10 quarts of water and put it in a big tub. Then you submerge your eggs in there and voila--fresh eggs MONTHS later! Doesn't that sound delicious?
No, I have no idea what's in that "egg preserver" fluid--but it's got to be healthful, right? I'm sure it's fine. Man, I can't wait to whip up some of these summertime eggs for my Christmas morning breakfast! Yum yum!
I'm pretty sure this stuff was "water glass". I was able to find a contemporary reference in Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens, and plenty of 190x and 191x references in Google Books.
ReplyDeleteHere's a 1977 "Mother Earth News" with a bunch of test results on egg preservation, including water glass.
Ed: Wow, you are quite the researcher! Yep, I think you're right--the stuff was "waterglass!" Cool! I did not know that!
ReplyDeleteHey, that Mother Earth article is just fascinating, too--thank you for the link! Who ever heard of such a crazy egg experiment?
"By June (120 days after the experiment was begun) all the supermarket and all the homestead control eggs had gone completely rotten. The dry sand groups (both fertile and unfertile) were also terminated at that time ... as were the store-boughts that had been coated with vaseline (the vaseline-coated homestead eggs were only marginally better). The fertile and unfertile eggs packed in lard were getting pretty "iffy", the ones coated with lard were doing a lot better, the lime water groups were still edible (although, in the case of the supermarket eggs, barely edible), the refrigerated eggs seemed to have firmed up and were nearly as good as fresh, and-while the waterglassed groups were, in general, doing far better than average-one of the fertile eggs covered with waterglass was very definitely bad."
Neato mosquito--thanks, Ed!
The other way to preserve eggs is to hard boil them and pickle them; here's a recipe.
ReplyDeleteYooper Style Pickled Eggs
Ed: Strange as it may sound I have pickled eggs in my fridge right now! I love salty and savory food. But my recipe is different--I'll try yours next batch. Thank you for the link!
ReplyDeleteI, too, have pickled eggs in my fridge -- I just re-use the brine from my green bean pickles. I leave them for about a week and then chow. YUM.
ReplyDeleteLisele: one of my favorite snacks...though I don't leave 'em in there TOO long--in my case, they get a bit rubbery after a while. But still yummy.
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