{"id":777,"date":"2013-09-02T09:35:18","date_gmt":"2013-09-02T16:35:18","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-03-10T17:58:33","modified_gmt":"2020-03-11T00:58:33","slug":"preserving-eggs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/articles\/preserving-eggs\/","title":{"rendered":"Preserving Eggs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pickled Eggs and Beyond<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

\"How<\/span><\/p>\n

Feast or famine: that is the nature of a laying flock.\u00a0 The bright sunshine and summer smorgasbord of creepy-crawlies will produce eggs a\u2019plenty.\u00a0 The cold huddle-down winter months, on the other hand, will leave you wishing for more.\u00a0 Of course, people do put lights on their chickens in the winter to stimulate egg production; we do not do that.\u00a0 Whether it is for fear of burning the place down or a desire to maintain the healthy rhythm of nature, we have decided to make do with what we get and to extend the summer harvest inasmuch as we can.\u00a0 People have been preserving eggs since\u2026well\u2026since eggs.<\/span><\/p>\n

I have attempted freezing the summer surplus of eggs.\u00a0 I must have seen it on a pinterest board.\u00a0 Most of my dismal failures come from that.\u00a0 The\u00a0 easy-peasy\u00a0 method (in theory) was to just put the entire raw egg into an ice cube tray.\u00a0 Have any of you had success with that?\u00a0 It drastically altered the texture; it is almost as if they are hard boiled.\u00a0 It\u2019s kinda weird, really more like reconstituted powdered eggs after you factor in the desication from the freezer.\u00a0 My hope was that I could preserve enough raw eggs to get through the winter\u2019s bread baking.\u00a0 It was a backup plan anyway, since we have ducks that lay in the winter and produce fine eggs just right for baking.\u00a0 They just don\u2019t lay quite enough for all of our eggy delights.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My method of choice is to pickle eggs!\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Pickled<\/span><\/p>\n

Oh my, you have to bite into one or you would never believe me.\u00a0 They are really a delicious food that makes later food preparation all-the-easier. We have been pickling eggs for a few years now, and I cannot tell you that I have an old family recipe or anything; I have chosen to do it differently every time.\u00a0 I hope that you give it a try with your summer harvest.\u00a0 But before you do, there are some things you really ought to know.<\/span><\/p>\n

Eggs are extremely alkaline. \u00a0<\/strong>As you know, anything that is not acidic must be pressure canned, not water bath canned.\u00a0 This is because botulism can only grow in low-acid environments.\u00a0 The pressure canning method has a much higher heat than water bath canning, and it is enough to kill the botulism spores found in a low pH.\u00a0\u00a0 Adding vinegar certainly makes it acidic, but only the outside of the eggs, not the interior.\u00a0 Therefore, if an egg has a cut or nick than the low-acid interior might harbor botulism spores.\u00a0 The eggs should be pristine for making pickled eggs.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Eggs<\/span><\/p>\n

Eggs should not be pressure canned.<\/strong>\u00a0 But did I not just say that pressure canning is the only approved method for non-acidic foods, such as green beans or venison?\u00a0 Yup, that is right.\u00a0 So it would stand to reason that you could just pressure can the eggs to kill the spores and then the low acid environment of the eggs would not matter.\u00a0 Right? Wrong.\u00a0 Eggs are too sensitive, too volatile for the pressure canning method.\u00a0 The heat is too high and too long and you have a nasty rubbery mess that you will not want to consume.\u00a0 For all I know they could be safe, but there is nothing left worth saving.\u00a0 Many say that they do not care for pickled eggs that were even water bath canned.\u00a0 Those who advocate a water bath canning generally suggest that you only boil the eggs just enough to peel them but not to cook them entirely\u2014that way, the actually canning method will cook the egg and hopefully not overcook it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 I do water bath can my pickled eggs, and I probably overcook them.\u00a0 Are they rubbery? Well, I do not think it is extreme and they still work rather well in recipes in which I smash or cut them.\u00a0 I like them as is, but I can see that it might be a matter of preference.\u00a0 In either case, the process-on-record is that you should still refrigerate them.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\"Cidered<\/span><\/p>\n

There is not an approved\u00a0 canning method for pickled eggs that is shelf stable.\u00a0 <\/strong>The recipes generally do not require canning at all; you simply heat the brine and pour it over the eggs and spices in the jar, seal, and refrigerate.\u00a0 Even water bath canning recipes still call for refrigeration because of the potential for botulism.\u00a0 Although the risk of getting botulism from home canned foods is extremely low, the results are catastrophic.\u00a0 It is like playing with matches; the likelihood of your house catching fire might be low but since the result is catastrophic, you use prudence in the matter and avoid the danger altogether.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Collecting\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

People have been preserving eggs since\u2026well\u2026.eggs.\u00a0 <\/strong>We know so much more about safety measures now than ever before, and we need to follow the advice given.\u00a0 With that said, however, I simply do not have room in my refrigerator for many pickled eggs.\u00a0 I do not see it as a viable way of preserving eggs if they are taking the same electricity-dependent space in my fridge that the raw eggs occupied.\u00a0 Do I have other options besides pickling?\u00a0 Perhaps not from a protecting-myself-legally standpoint.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I can tell you that eggs were traditionally root cellared.\u00a0 We currently understand that they must maintain a fairly consistent temperature between 32-40\u00b0F, which is colder than most any\u00a0 root cellars.\u00a0 Many times, they were placed in sand, oats, or other dry goods in an upside down (skinny-side-down) position and they remained there for many months as fresh as the day there were laid, so they say.\u00a0 The eggs were candled before use, meaning that the eggs were checked for fertilization by using a candle to see through their semi-translucent shells.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Another root cellar method that was common beyond pickling was to use \u201cwater glass\u201d.\u00a0 This chemical (potassium silicate) is still available today, and it seals up the pores of the egg. Since this included silica, the stuff in the packets that warns not to eat it, you would not be able to recycle the egg shells for animal feed calcium (and I would not personally add them to compost, either).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I have never personally used either of the traditional oat-burial or water glass methods.\u00a0 I would love to hear from someone who has (or who remembers grandma\u2019s use of these methods).\u00a0 I do pickle my eggs and I do maintain the correct temperature range (and whether I use electricity or not is not the discussion here<\/a>).\u00a0 The temperature must remain fairly consistent, that is the key.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Pickled eggs are absolutely delicious and\u2014especially if you skip the water bath canning\u2014as easy as pouring water.\u00a0 I wish I could invite you over for a salad, or for a barbecue featuring my famous potato salad as a show-stopping side dish (thank you, pickled eggs).\u00a0\u00a0 Try a jar out just so that you can experiment with the flavors and using pickled eggs in recipes.\u00a0 You will get hooked, just you wait and see.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Looking for more info about eggs? Check out these resources:<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Pickled Eggs HACCP <\/a>by Peter Snyder Jr, Ph.D.<\/span><\/p>\n

How To Can Pickled Eggs the Safe Way <\/a>(with 2 recipes)<\/span><\/p>\n

CDC: <\/a>Information on the singular known case of botulism through preserved eggs<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Interested in building a root cellar?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Country Wisdom Bulletin:\u00a0Build Your Own Underground Root Cellar<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Root Cellaring<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Recipes from the Root Cellar<\/a> (a cookbook)
\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pickled Eggs and Beyond Feast or famine: that is the nature of a laying flock.\u00a0 The bright sunshine and summer smorgasbord of creepy-crawlies will produce eggs a\u2019plenty.\u00a0 The cold huddle-down winter months, on the other hand, will leave you wishing for more.\u00a0 Of course, people do put lights on their chickens in the winter to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[19,297],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[1918,850,855,854,849,858,852,841,847,845,856,851,844,857,848,859,853,842,846,843],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9Fvks-cx","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pantryparatus.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}