Water Glassing: Egg Preservation Experiment!

[fuzzi]

^This. It doesn't take anything fancy. This preservation technique was developed before electricity, so anywhere dark and out of the way is fine. In a closet or in a bucket in the corner are fine.


Sounds like you handled it great. I'm in my 4th year of using this technique. I've been getting fewer and fewer cracked/bad eggs each year. 2 keys: place them in the container carefully and don't jostle the container. Initially, I had ~90% success rate and I'm up to about ~97% (1 out of 3 dozen) bad now.
The main way that an egg can go bad is if the shell is cracked and allows the lime water in. If you have an obviously cracked egg, then discard or compost it. If you have any doubts at all, then crack the egg into a separate dish (not into the 3 eggs that you cracked open before it) and only use it if it looks/smells okay.

I crack eggs into separate bowls even if they're fresh store-bought. I have gotten funky eggs in a freshly bought dozen before.

 

[igorsMistress]

Ooo! What will you try to keep the yolks intact? I have to room to do different buckets. I'd be happy to do different things and report back.

Could my concentration of lime have been too strong?

I was thinking it was the time in the lime solution maybe? Lots of folks report the same issue you mentioned, that after a couple of months the yolks break and the whites are runnier. I thought about starting the first batch in summer and after a month or two use them while we’re still getting fresh eggs to start another bucket. And so on. Smaller batches and less time maybe. That way you don’t risk ruining the whole thing by jostling the eggs to get to the older ones.

It would depend on how many eggs I get in late fall whether they’d last long enough for us. Hopefully we’ll still get a few fresh eggs next winter since I’m getting chicks this Spring, so would be a good time to experiment.

 

[TooCheep]

@igorsMistress - That is certainly a different path. Please report your results- positive or negative so that we can learn. Thanks.

 

[igorsMistress]

@igorsMistress - That is certainly a different path. Please report your results- positive or negative so that we can learn. Thanks.

I will definitely do that!

 

[tripletfeb]

Ok, so an update on my water glassed eggs. They are about a year old, I wrote it down somewhere when I did them but can't remember where! Anyways, they are still doing good! They make wonderful scrambled eggs and do great in baking. I hard boiled five today just as an experiment and all five cracked in the water and were ruined. Then I hard boiled fresh eggs and all were good, none cracked and the fresh eggs made a delicious egg salad sandwich. I did it both ways just to make sure it wasn't my hard boil method(and I really wanted that egg salad sandwich).

 

[AntiqueB]

This is good to know! I was wondering how long they would last,and apparently it's beyond anything I would ask for!

 

[gracetaker]

Ok, so an update on my water glassed eggs. They are about a year old, I wrote it down somewhere when I did them but can't remember where! Anyways, they are still doing good! They make wonderful scrambled eggs and do great in baking. I hard boiled five today just as an experiment and all five cracked in the water and were ruined. Then I hard boiled fresh eggs and all were good, none cracked and the fresh eggs made a delicious egg salad sandwich. I did it both ways just to make sure it wasn't my hard boil method(and I really wanted that egg salad sandwich).

In order to boil water glassed eggs, you need to make a pinhole in one end of the egg to allow pressure to escape! Then it should work

 

[bobbi-j]

I’ve decided to water glass some eggs again this fall, and actually use them this winter. Last time I left them for about 18 months (I put them in a cool, dark place and forgot about them), and I just didn’t feel safe using them.

 

[tripletfeb]

I’ve decided to water glass some eggs again this fall, and actually use them this winter. Last time I left them for about 18 months (I put them in a cool, dark place and forgot about them), and I just didn’t feel safe using them.

I'm using my water glassed eggs from May 2022 still, with no issues. Just fyi

 

[bobbi-j]

I'm using my water glassed eggs from May 2022 still, with no issues. Just fyi

Thanks for sharing that! It’s good to know they’ll last that long. I think some of my eggs cracked in the jar - the water was cloudy and smelled.