Water Glassing: Egg Preservation Experiment!

[aart]

In fact, the float test is a well known way to check for fresh eggs. If you find a clutch of eggs that your chickens laid in a hidden area, you can test if they are fresh that way. Put them in fresh water. Those that float to the top are too old. Those that stay on the bottom are okay.

...and rather inaccurate.
Just because it floats, doesn't mean it's 'bad', just older.

Floating an egg will only tell you how old it might be.
They float due to evaporation when older.
It will not tell you if an egg is 'good' or 'bad'.
Plus then you've wetted the egg so it should be thoroughly washed and refrigerated.

When in doubt....
Open eggs one at a time in a separate dish before adding to pan or recipe,
use your eyes, nose, and common sense to decide if egg is OK to eat.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

...and rather inaccurate.
Just because it floats, doesn't mean it's 'bad', just older.

Floating an egg will only tell you how old it might be.
They float due to evaporation when older.
It will not tell you if an egg is 'good' or 'bad'.
Plus then you've wetted the egg so it should be thoroughly washed and refrigerated.

When in doubt....
Open eggs one at a time in a separate dish before adding to pan or recipe,
use your eyes, nose, and common sense to decide if egg is OK to eat.

Thank you, @aart. Once again, the voice of reason. I learn so much from you!

 

[Kerrih80]

What do you do with the lyme water after you've used the eggs? Can it be reused or just dumped down the drain?

 

[cavemanrich]

What do you do with the lyme water after you've used the eggs? Can it be reused or just dumped down the drain?

I would use fresh lime water for fresh batch of eggs.
I would also pour it outside rather than down drain.. Not that it would clog the drain,,, but the lime would be good for stuff growing. Many peeps lime their lawn,, when they have acidic soils. Slightly acidic soils may result from leaves decay. The lime neutralizes excess acidity in small amounts.

And I see you are new here.

 

[RubyLady]

We pour it out into the compost. NOT the compost we feed our chickens with but either the giant leaf pile (we have a lot of trees and a swimming pool sized pile of leaves every year) or the small compost bins my husband builds under the trees to help feed them. He's brought back two dying pecans that way. The lime water is a nice and easy addition. We also throw the limed eggshells into that compost - again, we don't feed those to the chickens.

 

[roxanne]

In this case, the lime is to seal the eggs while they are in the water. This is about keeping fresh eggs, not pickling. I have been putting up (water glassing) eggs for several weeks now. I had a 5 gallon plastic industrial kitchen container full of eggs that we discovered had cracked and all the water had leaked out. The container has now been sitting without water for over a week.

Does anyone have any idea if I can fill another container again and put these eggs back in the solution or are the eggs ruined?

In this case, the lime is to seal the eggs while they are in the water. This is about keeping fresh eggs, not pickling.

Hello everyone! I have been putting up (water glassing) eggs for several weeks now. I had a 5 gallon plastic industrial kitchen container full of eggs that we discovered had cracked and all the water had leaked out. The container has now been sitting without water for over a week.
Does anyone have any idea if I can fill another container again and put these eggs back in the solution or are the eggs ruined?

 

[roxanne]

The ice cream bucket is a good alternative for a container for my case. Thank you.

As for putting a date on the eggs, besides harming the bloom, I doubt it would remain legible after several months to a year in lime water. Since the purpose of this method is to store eggs for very long periods, I simply place a piece of masking tape with "Nov. 2020" on the jar. No need for exact dates on each egg stored this way, IMO. I guess if one were storing them in a 5 gallon bucket, but even then, can you imagine selecting eggs amongst so many eggs in a bucket and finding the dates on each one before determining which one to remove and use? Not very practical. Month and year (or span of same "Sept-Dec 2020") will work.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Hello everyone! I have been putting up (water glassing) eggs for several weeks now. I had a 5 gallon plastic industrial kitchen container full of eggs that we discovered had cracked and all the water had leaked out. The container has now been sitting without water for over a week.
Does anyone have any idea if I can fill another container again and put these eggs back in the solution or are the eggs ruined?

 

[roxanne]

Early results for my second year:
Normally, I only make three kinds of eggs- hard boiled, scrambled and omelets. I'm not a baker, so I can't comment on how water glassed eggs work there.

I pulled a dozen eggs from my stash a few days ago. They were all 6-7 months old. One was cracked. I knew from previous experience that one would have a strong lime taste, so I tossed it. I made scrambled eggs and they were fine.

Last year, I only made scrambled eggs and omelets (good) and over easy (burst yolks). This morning, I decided to try hard boiling 5 eggs.

Three of them cracked, two slightly and one ejected a major part of the white and yolk. It was basically a poached egg. Not my favorite form and it really messed up the water with the other eggs, but it was quite edible. I also tried a cracked HB egg. It had allowed in some water and was slightly watery, but was otherwise fine.

My bottom line:
Water glassed eggs lose a bit of structure/strength over time, but that doesn't affect taste. I've had about a 10% loss rate due to cracking and lime infiltration. They work well for scrambled/omelets, but only a percentage will give ideal results for sunny side up/over easy or hard boiled. I believe they would work well for poached and baking, but can't really comment there.

I expect to continue using this system, but will better understand and work within it's limitations in the future.

Edit: The only other long-term preservation system I would consider is freezing. I understand there are also some limitations there. For example: You remove the eggs from the shell before freezing, so there won't be hard boiled eggs. It may or may not have a loss rate, but I don't have extra freezer space, so water glassing is a very good, inexpensive, no energy alternative.

I have been putting up (water glassing) eggs for several weeks now. I had a 5 gallon plastic industrial kitchen container full of eggs that we discovered had cracked and all the water had leaked out. The container has now been sitting without water for over a week.
Does anyone have any idea if I can fill another container again and put these eggs back in the solution or are the eggs ruined?

 

[roxanne]

I have been putting up (water glassing) eggs for several weeks now. I had a 5 gallon plastic industrial kitchen container full of eggs that we discovered had cracked and all the water had leaked out. The container has now been sitting without water for over a week.
Does anyone have any idea if I can fill another container again and put these eggs back in the solution or are the eggs ruined?

 

[TooCheep]

I have been putting up (water glassing) eggs for several weeks now. I had a 5 gallon plastic industrial kitchen container full of eggs that we discovered had cracked and all the water had leaked out. The container has now been sitting without water for over a week.
Does anyone have any idea if I can fill another container again and put these eggs back in the solution or are the eggs ruined?

Hello Roxanne. Sorry about your problem. I'd try cracking open a couple of eggs. See if they look okay, smell okay and if they do, try scrambling and eating. If they check out, then move them to a new container. Water glass eggs do become a little softer than fresh eggs- the whites are slightly runnier and the yolk may break a little easier, so don't be surprised if you see that.