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Vinegar, Pickles, and Pickling: Eggshells

ING EGGS Preservation of Eggs. 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 "Look Through them at the Light." 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.

To test eggs, hold each one up against the opening of this cylinder, broad end upward, and look through them at the light. If the contents do not fill the shell, the egg is not perfectly fresh, and the larger the air space the older is the egg. The yolk should be perfectly clear and round in outline. If, besides the air space, there is a dark haze or cloud in the egg, it has become spoiled. If the cloud contains a black spot, the egg is bad. 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.

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 pound of cream of tartar. Immerse the eggs and keep them PRESERVATION OF MEAT AND VEGETABLES 707 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 1 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 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, 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 24 ounces of soda, 2½ ounces of cream of tartar, 24 ounces of saltpeter, 24 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.