I ran across the term "water glassing" as a way to store eggs on another forum. Even though I come from agricultural roots and both parents as children had no electricity I had never heard of this technique. A couple of notes: Use unwashed eggs to keep the water glass solution from changing the flavor Hydrated lime can be found inexpensively in the masonry supply section of a large hardware store. Do not use gardening lime.
Do a search on site for "sodium silicate" or "water glass." It's been a longish while, but there is or was a fairly extensive thread on egg storage.
I was told that sodium silicate can be used to seal cracked engine heads also. Only told of it, never saw it done or heard particulars.
for any of the long term egg storage methods you start out with fresh eggs - right out from under the hen - you want the "bloom" left on the eggs - just damp wipe off any poop >>> this has nothing to do with keeping the water glass from changing the taste/flavor - ???? - I've never heard anything about this water glassing is mainly for storing larger amounts of eggs at one time - you %% mix the chem concentrate with warm water and immerse the eggs in the mixed water glass solution using a food grade container >>> in the old days an earthenware crock was used - these days a pop cooler is perfect - keeps a constant temp and the cooler liners are food grade poly ... best storage method is to pack the eggs in cartons - immerse the cartons entirely >> the eggs need to be flipped - at least once a month - some say once a week - the cartons are perfect for the flipping requirement ..
Mother Earth News did some storage tests on eggs a while back. Water glass eggs came out best as far as nonrefrigerated but they did say there was a bomb in each batch. Lemme see if I can find that article... Ok 1977 so more than "a while back". https://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/how-to-store-fresh-eggs-zmaz77ndzgoe
same stuff used to decommission engines for a $$$$ for junker buy campaign - seizes it tite it's also the chem used to seal new concrete ...
By "washed eggs" the video refers to the washing given to store bought eggs. This removes the outer calcium layer and leaves the shell porous enough for the hydrated calcium (or other) to leach into the egg. She discusses dirty eggs in the video.
Nice article - I like their methodology. It sounds like sodium silicate worked the best compared to lime and the others.
I wonder if any of the animal rendering byproducts ( Collagens) would provide a barrier similer to, or at least seal the shell and still allow the water glassing?
The Mother Earth article tested use of lard. That was the worst performing of any of the methods used.
#1 reason for stored eggs failure is hairline cracks that you can't see without candling. If you candle and use the hairliners for immediate use and save the pristine eggs for longer storage no problems. Used to wash, candle, grade and pack 1800-2000 eggs per day from our chickens and another 4,000-5,000 from other other farms that didn't want the hassle of getting licensed, easy $80 for 3 hours lazy work or so when doing other folks eggs...... and you get real fast at it after a while.
Actually, I was thinking more of the rendered adhesives or even sorghum based, kind of like we use for rolling/gluing/sealing paper cartridges!
the bloom isn't going to survive any washing - you start rinsing them under a faucet and it'll be damaged or gone ...
if you can only get store eggs that are older and machine washed - use them - anything preserved is better than nothing >>> just be aware that the storage longevity will be cut short
Am I the only one who cans pickled eggs? I mean sure they have the same texture as a salted Goodyear tire, but they're still great sliced and tossed in a salad.