Water Glassing: Egg Preservation Experiment!

[Sequel]

I keep mine in my basement, with all the food I've canned. It stays about 50° down there in the winter and a little warmer in the summer. I put mine in a two gallon glass jar I bought at Walmart

I might look for another glass jar with a lid. I have a couple jars but the lids have long since disappeared. I will check Walmart thanks!

 

[bobbi-j]

^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.

How long is the longest you have kept them before eating?

 

[bobbi-j]

Coming back to say that it's been over 12 hours since I've eaten my water glassed eggs this morning. My stomach is very upset. I was fine all day, then got sick after supper. It could have been supper that got me sick and not the eggs. I will definitely be trying my eggs again, my hubby ate them with me and is completely fine

It’s been several days - how are you feeling? Better, I hope! Did your hubby ever get sick?

 

[tripletfeb]

It’s been several days - how are you feeling? Better, I hope! Did your hubby ever get sick?

Feeling much better, thank you. Nope, hubby never got sick, neither did my son. And with the price of eggs being what it is and my girls still taking a break, I'm very glad I water glassed eggs last year

 

[TooCheep]

How long is the longest you have kept them before eating?

Personally- about 8 months. I've been capturing eggs from the spring flush and saving them for the winter. It felt really odd after my first year of raising chickens to be buying eggs at the store in the winter, so I looked for a preservation method after that first year and have been using water-glassing ever since.

I've read that water-glassed eggs are good for 18+ months.

 

[Weetamoo93]

Personally- about 8 months. I've been capturing eggs from the spring flush and saving them for the winter.

Same here. Maybe 9 months. My sole goal was to keep them for the winter's break. I may hold over extra this year specifically for my dogs. Their food is too expensive not to supplement with eggs.

 

[Weetamoo93]

Does anyone know if the shells are safe to feed back to the hens? I've been burying them in my compost to keep the chickens from consuming them; they always have oyster shell free choice so it's not their only calcium source

 

[bobbi-j]

Personally- about 8 months. I've been capturing eggs from the spring flush and saving them for the winter. It felt really odd after my first year of raising chickens to be buying eggs at the store in the winter, so I looked for a preservation method after that first year and have been using water-glassing ever since.

I've read that water-glassed eggs are good for 18+ months.

I have read that as well. Mine have been water-glassed for 15 months. Still working on getting up my nerve to actually eat a whole one...

 

[TooCheep]

I have read that as well. Mine have been water-glassed for 15 months. Still working on getting up my nerve to actually eat a whole one...

Humans have evolved a very good way to test for fresh/usable food- our senses. If it smells good, looks good and tastes good, then it is fine to eat. Water glassing has been used since the 1800s, so it was around long before modern refrigeration.

 

[TooCheep]

Does anyone know if the shells are safe to feed back to the hens? I've been burying them in my compost to keep the chickens from consuming them; they always have oyster shell free choice so it's not their only calcium source

I don't know if the hydrated lime is safe for chickens to eat directly. I do know that it is is fine in your compost as one of it's uses is as gardening/horticultural lime.

Because of that, I play it safe and give fresh egg shells back to the chickens and put water-glassed shells into the compost.