Egg Preservation -- Month One

It has been one month since I put two dozen eggs into liquid storage.  It is time to check them out!

For the original procedure, look at the post "Preserving an Eggciting New Year."

My goal is to look at two eggs a month to see how the preservation method is working.  I wanted to use one egg that was coated with Vaseline and one that was not.

The storage container was undisturbed for the entire month.  When I took the lid off, I noticed a "crust" had formed on the surface:



I poked it with my finger and sure enough, the crust broke up like ice on a pond.



I pulled out the first two eggs I could find that met the requirements.  The first was without Vaseline so I had to touch a few others before I found one marked with the "V".  I was surprised to see the uncoated egg had split open while in storage.  It looked like the white had leaked out in a few places but had firmed up.

The split egg felt a little heavier.

For comparison, I placed a fresh egg right out the refrigerator next to the stored eggs.

Fresh egg on the left

Then I heated a cast iron skillet, coated it with olive oil, and started breaking in the eggs.  **I should have considered the split egg better.** While the fresh and the V egg broke open and emptied into the skillet just the same, the split egg almost exploded when I tapped the shell against the pan.  The contents looked scrambled and were very wet.  I wish I had thought to put it into a separate pan.

Fresh on left, V on right, split all over!

After taking the picture, I took the pan over to the sink and poured out the liquid.  That left the fresh and the V egg to cook.  I was impressed that the V egg had a beautiful yellow yolk and the white seemed to have the same texture as the fresh.  It honestly looked more appealing than the fresh because the yolk was so large and pretty.

When they were done cooking, I and a guest taster tried bites of each.  We could not taste a difference between them.  The guest could not taste a difference between them and what he was used to when eating fried eggs.  We couldn't see a difference between them, either.



I think I could taste the presence of the calcium hydroxide on both eggs.  I suspect it was from the split egg washing its contents all over the other eggs.  Now I know to avoid using split eggs!

The Verdict

Success!  The V egg was indistinguishable from the fresh egg in look and flavor after one month in a calcium hydroxide solution, in a ceramic container, in a cool room in the house.  What a boon to people who have producing hens and want to spread out the bounty over time!