Are you looking for a good method to preserve your eggs in their whole raw form? Here are tips for water glassing eggs to preserve them. Then you have come to the right place.
Water glassing is one of the most efficient long-term methods of preserving eggs. This article will discuss everything you need to know about this ancient method of preserving eggs. Keep reading to learn more.
What is Water Glassing Eggs?
Water Glassing is one of the oldest methods of preserving eggs. The method dates back to the early 1800s and is still popular in the modern poultry world.
Originally sodium silicate (water glass) was mixed with fresh water, put in a container, and eggs submerged in the mixture to preserve them.
If you mix sodium silicate with water and the water starts to evaporate, it will turn into a hard and glassy gel.
Water is often used to glue together porcelain and glass or seal concrete surfaces because of these properties.
Today, most chicken keepers use pickling lime or calcium hydroxide instead of sodium silicate to water glass their eggs.
Pickling lime is a better option because it is more natural and widely available.
Pickling lime is a food-grade substance that should not be confused with other types of lime. It is a white powder initially used in crispness to the pickles in old-fashioned pickling recipes.
You can find it online or in grocery stores with canning supplies. It is mixed with water in a container, and your eggs are submerged in the solution.
As a result, the eggshell is sealed to prevent any bacteria from entering the egg, thus keeping it fresh for several months or even years.
Is Water Glassing Safe?
Water glassed chicken eggs submerged in the water glassing solution are safe for human consumption.
However, you will need to rinse off the lime solution before using them thoroughly. When placing your eggs into the water glassing solution, you should be careful and ensure that your eggs do not crack.
Even the most minor cracks can ruin the entire batch of chicken eggs. In addition, your eggs should be free from debris and dry. A speck of mud or chicken poo can also ruin the entire batch.
Can All Eggs Be Water Glassed?
All poultry or chicken eggs can be water glassed. The eggs must be unwashed but clean of all debris and fresh.
You can not preserve washed eggs using the water glassing method as the bloom will no longer be intact. This will make it possible for the lime water to enter the egg.
Therefore, you should not water glass store-bought eggs (at least in the United States of America) as they are washed and even bleached before being sold out to various consumers.
Washed eggs will not have the protective coating (bloom) in order to keep lime water from entering the egg.
How To Water Glass Chicken Eggs
Water glassing eggs is a simple process and one of the best ways to preserve your fresh eggs. You will need a few materials, make the solution, and place your fresh eggs into it.
Here is the exact procedure to water glass your farm-fresh eggs.
Gather Materials
The first step is getting all the necessary materials to successfully water glass your eggs. You can choose to use sodium silicate solution or lime solution. While they will be efficient, we will discuss the lime solution method.
Pickling Lime
Pickling lime is also referred to as hydrated lime. You can find it online or at your nearest local grocery store with canning supplies. It is a white powdery substance derived from limestone.
Kitchen Scale
Limewater is usually not made by volume but by weight. Therefore, you will require an accurate kitchen scale to measure its weight.
Water
Water is necessary as it will be required to make the lime solution. Distilled water will do best, especially for those who have water high in mineral content.
Food Grade Container
Many people use one-gallon glass jars or half-gallon glass jars for food-grade containers. The one-gallon food-grade buckets are a better option because it will be easier to retrieve the eggs out of the bucket than it can be done out of the glass jars.
Each one-gallon bucket can cover about two dozen eggs. Even if you decide to use a larger bucket, be sure to reach the bottom to get the oldest eggs first.
Eggs
For your egg glassing process to succeed, you will need fresh unwashed eggs. However, it is not a must that you add all of your eggs or even any egg at all on the day you make your solution. You can keep adding fresh eggs as soon as you get them.
Directions
- Pickling lime
- Water
- Fresh, clean eggs (unwashed and with the bloom still intact)
- In your glass jar or food-grade bucket, combine one ounce of pickling lime with one quart of room temperature water.
- Mix until lime powder is well dissolved. It would be best to remember that no matter how much of the solution you make, the ratio of one quart of water to one ounce of lime will remain the same.
- Add your fresh eggs to the solution gently. You will need to make sure that the pointy side of the egg points down.
- Make sure that your eggs are submerged in the water glass solution with about two inches of liquid remaining above the eggs.
- Make sure that the eggs do not crack when placing them in the solution because a cracked egg will likely ruin the whole solution, and you will have to start over.
- Add the lid to your container to prevent evaporation. After that, store it in a cool and dark place.
Using Water Glassed Eggs
Once you are ready with everything, you can grab an egg, ideally from the bottom layer of the container if you have been adding eggs a few at a time.
Besides, you can get a few eggs that will be used in the next few days and store them in the refrigerator to avoid getting into the container every time you need another egg.
You can use water glass eggs just as fresh farm eggs collected from your coop unless you plan to steam or boil them.
Because the preserved eggs will no longer be porous, you put a small pinprick in the eggshell before steaming or boiling to prevent your eggs from exploding.
The flavor and texture of water-glassed eggs are the same as that of fresh eggs. Therefore, you do not have to worry about using them for a scrambled egg or a freshly fried egg.
You can use them in any way you desire. If you are not boiling your eggs, you can crack them separately before using them. This will ensure that you do not have any rotten eggs.
How Hydrated Lime Preserves Eggs
The pH of hydrated lime is what will preserve the eggs. Whenever foods are pickled for preservation, they are put in an environment that does not allow bacteria or any other microorganisms to thrive.
Microorganisms can only thrive in environments with a pH level of a certain range. They will not grow if the environment is too basic or too acidic.
Hydrated lime is usually very alkaline, with a pH of 12.4 if it is mixed with water. The strong alkaline solution produced after mixing hydrated lime with water is what will prevent microbial growth and preserve your eggs.
An egg or any other food can not go bad on its own. What causes food to spoil is bacteria or microorganisms that may get into it and create a population.
What Is The Ideal Time To Preserve Eggs
There is no ideal time to preserve your chicken eggs. Most chicken keepers will find that they have a lot of eggs at the beginning of spring up to the end of summer or even early fall.
Hens of most chicken breeds tend to molt in the fall and stop laying over the winter. If you preserve your eggs during the summer and spring, you will have a supply of fresh eggs to use if your birds stop laying during the winter.
According to some sources, chicken eggs preserved in the early summer and spring keep the best. However, it is good to preserve your eggs throughout the year if you have several of them.
Can You Use Water Glassing To Preserve Quail And Duck Eggs?
Yes, you can use water glassing to preserve your duck and quail eggs. However, you should not wash the eggs before preserving them.
You should also not use store-bought eggs. Check the eggs for cracks and use only the freshest ones.
Conclusion
Water glassing is one of the safest and oldest methods of preserving eggs. With this method, you will be able to preserve your eggs for several years.
Just make sure that the eggs are unwashed before preserving them. In addition, you will need to avoid using store-bought eggs.
