# Preserving eggs ... a chronicle



## SkizzlePig (May 14, 2006)

Tessynae and I are testing preserving eggs. Most people cover them in oil and put them back in the carton. We decided that we'd just suspend them in oil in hopes that we could find a way to preserve dozens of eggs easily.

On the first of each month we're going to take an egg out and see if it's still good. We'll also watch to see if they start floating. This way we should be able to get a pretty accurate date range that this method allows eggs to be kept.

The eggs will remain on the counter in the kitchen suspended in Canola oil until they go bad ... or we've removed all twelve (a year).

So starts our experiment ...

Here's the photo from September 1st, 2012:


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## stef (Sep 14, 2002)

Dear Unlikely Farmer...I'm interested to see how your experiment turns out. 

Earlier this year I decided to do my own experiment by freezing eggs. I froze the yolks separately, the whites seperately, and the yolk and white blended together. 

The whites did best. I did not like the other results. The yolk dried out and hardened. The combined eggs were okay to use in baked goods or as scrambled eggs. 

What is the average ambient room temp where your eggs are?


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## Limon (Aug 25, 2010)

If you go over to the Mother Earth News web site and dig around, they did a comparison of about every known method to preserve eggs. IIRC, they came to the conclusion that eggs kept cool stay excellent for a long time without any added efforts. 

For frozen eggs, the usual recommendation is to add a tiny bit of salt to the eggs and scramble them (either together, or the individual parts), and bag after frozen. The salt does something to help the texture.


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## terri9630 (Mar 12, 2012)

I've started dehydrating mine.


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## Guest (Sep 1, 2012)

The oil cost 10 times as much as the eggs. You ain't saving much.


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## SkizzlePig (May 14, 2006)

zong said:


> The oil cost 10 times as much as the eggs. You ain't saving much.


The Canola oil certainly is a LOT more expensive than eggs (or even the fear of inflation). We're looking more at what the best method (sans electricity) to store eggs.



Stef said:


> What is the average ambient room temp where your eggs are?


Hey, Stef ... the kitchen in our house is not the most accommodation location to store them. It can get to 75+ in there ... with cooking and the evening Southern exposure cooking that exterior wall. It should be interesting to see how long they last ... especially in this, not the ideal location.

It's interesting that the eggs whites did well freezing, but the yolks ... not so much. I've heard that if you scramble them before freezing then pour them into an ice tray, they're easy for portioning out. Never done it, though.


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## Tessynae (May 13, 2006)

zong said:


> The oil cost 10 times as much as the eggs. You ain't saving much.


But we can use the oil also. So....since we have both products, the oil and the eggs, why not put them together? If putting them together preservers one for considerably longer then why not put them together?


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## Guest (Sep 2, 2012)

Oil in an unsealed container after a year? I think it might be unbearably rancid by then.


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## SkizzlePig (May 14, 2006)

zong said:


> Oil in an unsealed container after a year? I think it might be unbearably rancid by then.


According to the manufacturer, Canola oil is good up to two years. We'll see, though, won't we?


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## countryfied2011 (Jul 5, 2011)

I found this on Pinterest yesterday.....interesting, might want to give it a try. It says your eggs will keep up to a year without being refridgerated

KePeg Egg Preserver


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## Riverdale (Jan 20, 2008)

terri9630 said:


> I've started dehydrating mine.



This. We use the 'wet' method.


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## HOTW (Jul 3, 2007)

My mum said they used to dip eggs in some sort of produ t to get them to keep during the war but she doesnt remember what it was


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## SkizzlePig (May 14, 2006)

HOTW said:


> My mum said they used to dip eggs in some sort of produ t to get them to keep during the war but she doesnt remember what it was


Hey, HOTW ... It was probably Water Glass. It comes by many names, but it was the defacto go to for the USDA prior to refrigeration.

We thought about using Water Glass, but preferred Canola oil because we could buy it easily. There's no one in our are that sells Water Glass.


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## terri9630 (Mar 12, 2012)

My Grandmother said they used lard or bacon grease. They didn't have money for anything "special".


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## Stiffchick (Jul 18, 2012)

I am very interested in this experiment as well. Thank you for sharing! as for the other products, I wonder if there is a way to make your own "water glass" or "ke-peg"


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## lathermaker (May 7, 2010)

Unlikely Farmer said:


> According to the manufacturer, Canola oil is good up to two years. We'll see, though, won't we?


Has not been my experience. I'm a soapmaker and have experimented with practically every oil I can get my hands on within $$$ reason. Canola is notoriously bad for a short shelf life along with soy. Rancid canola will make your nose shrivel up and run away. IME coconut oil would be a better choice.

But, I'll be interested to see how your experience works!


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## SkizzlePig (May 14, 2006)

Today's October 1st and we're one month into our test to find out how long we can preserve eggs by suspending them in Canola oil. The eggs have sat on our kitchen counter now for a month with no form of preservation save the oil suspension. 

A month in ... the eggs look great. We cracked one open and the white looked a bit watery. That could be the oil or our eggs.

So far so good!


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## alpacaspinner (Feb 5, 2012)

For next time - it might be interesting to give us a picture of the newly broken egg as well. Maybe, if possible, with a fresh egg beside it for comparison. Interesting experiment. I also read the article in Mother Earth, and just keep mine in the 'fridge. It worked quite well last winter, but none of the eggs were ever more than, I would guess, 3 months old.


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## SkizzlePig (May 14, 2006)

The year-end holidays kept us busy, so I didn't post about our "expertiment", BUT we did keep monitoring the eggs.

The eggs have been slowly degrading. The whites have been getting more and more runny ... to the point that it was similar in viscosity of water.

We pulled out this month's egg the first part of February. It had gone bad, but only just.

While eggs will float when they've gone rancid, our eggs never did float in the oil they were housed. I'm not sure if the eggs float when they're REALLY bad or if the eggs won't float in oil.

At any rate, the eggs lasted for five months in Canola oil sitting on the kitchen counter. The temperature was between 68 to 80 degrees. The kitchen gets hot during meal prep and cool at night. The location would occassionally get evening sun from a nearby window. I'm sure that if these elements were more controlled and constant, the eggs might last even longer outside of refrigeration.


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## kittyjo (Feb 10, 2005)

on one of the preppers show there was a person that rubbed the eggs with oil and then she said she could store them for a year in a dark, cool, and dry place am very interested in your findings


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## kasilofhome (Feb 10, 2005)

Thanks--- can learn if you fail t question or try.


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## Texasdirtdigger (Jan 17, 2010)

Kittyjo - I received 21DZN of eggs last Feb. I was certaily looking for a way to preserve them.

I rubbed them all with mineral oil........Have been using them for a full year, with no problems....or uglies. I also saw the episode of Doomsday Preppers that prepared egg in this manner.....They have my vote....works great.


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## blooba (Feb 9, 2010)

kittyjo said:


> on one of the preppers show there was a person that rubbed the eggs with oil and then she said she could store them for a year in a dark, cool, and dry place am very interested in your findings


According to some university's study.
Store eggs, large end up, at 50-55Â°F and at 75% relative humidity.

Not sure why large end up but that's the way they are usually in an egg carton also.


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## wildcat6 (Apr 5, 2011)

terri9630 said:


> I've started dehydrating mine.


How do you dehydrate them?


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## homemaid (Apr 26, 2011)

Very interesting thread.... I also have heard of oiling them with mineral oil. I have not tried it but according to Texasdirtdigger it has worked for a year. Eggs will be on sale fr Easter I think I will give it a try.


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## farmerpat (Jan 1, 2008)

Terri9630 - I have an Excalibur and am interested in knowing how to dehydrate eggs also.


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