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 forgot to use my WG eggs this morning, sorry! Will try again tomorrow. Plan to scramble two and make into an egg burrito.
I'm old, what can I say! On the first egg, the yolk broke as soon as it hit the pan. The second egg fared better and I feel I could have cooked it over easy or sunny-side up if I wished. But as I say, I did scramble them and they were delicious. I would not have known they weren't fresh, if I hadn't known. The taste and texture seemed to me as good as any fresh egg. I feel confident using this method in the future. Be sure to use PICKLING LIME, not pickling salt or any other kind of lime. You can find it easily in the canning section of your grocery store and it is not expensive. Follow safety instructions when handling it. I used a pickling crock and covered it with a Corningware plate. Have fun!
