How to Preserve Eggs

How to Preserve Eggs: Egg production is seasonal; how to preserve eggs for up to a year when eggs are plentiful, for use in winter when eggs are scarce.

You know the drill. The hens are mad egg machines through all of springtime, summer, and even into fall. And then the weather changes, the days get shorter, and they all go into a molt. 

You were selling eggs by the dozens on the cheap, and then all of a sudden... there is nary an egg to be found. The egg shortage will last for at least a couple of months. 

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The "Egg Crop" is Usually a Seasonal One

At Ambresse Acres, we strive to work WITH the chicken's normal biology, and choose not to boost their wintertime coop lighting. Therefore we end up with a ton of eggs from February through October (at best), and then very few eggs from mid-November to some point in mid-January. Right now as I write this in mid-December, our girls are giving us exactly ONE egg a day, occasionally two. 

Knowing that our "egg crop" will be seasonal, we plan ahead for it. This means that we plan ahead and preserve eggs while they are rolling in, so that in the lean months of winter we will still have plenty of practically fresh eggs.

The shortest day of the year is coming up in a few days, so from this point forward, I can look forward to the egg count slowly growing as the girls wrap up their molts and the daily lighting allotment naturally grows.

How to Preserve Eggs: My Favorite Methods

This page discusses how to preserve eggs. There are quite a few methods, and most of them will preserve eggs long term - for a year or more.

These are my favorite methods - click a link below depending on the method that interests you most, or keep reading...

Dehydrating Eggs.
Water Glassing Eggs.
Freezing Eggs.
Freeze-Drying Eggs.
Preserving Eggs in Salt.
Oiled Eggs.
Pickled Eggs.

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Dehydrating Eggs

There are days in spring and summer when you may feel like you are buried in extra eggs. If you're not giving some to family or friends or selling at a roadside stand, one can certainly dehydrate egg overages for use when the girls aren't laying.

While you can dehydrate cooked scrambled eggs, the method I prefer and have used is to thoroughly dehydrate raw eggs, and then vacuum-pack them in measured quantities.

Dehydrating eggs involves scrambling fresh, washed, raw eggs, pouring them on a silicone tray. Dehydrate for 10 hours at 149 degrees F (65 C), and then for 8 more hours at 140 degrees F (60 C). (Or follow the directions for your own dehydrator.)

Once dehydrated, powder the eggs. This is in order to reconstitute the eggs in the minimum amount of time.

Reconstituting powdered dehydrated eggs:

• The general rule of thumb is: 1/4 cup water reconstitutes one egg. 4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) powdered egg are said to equal one egg, therefore, reconstitute your powdered eggs at a ratio of 1/4 cup to 1/4 cup (1:1 ratio).
  
  
• In my experience with large American Bresse eggs: one egg equals 4 tablespoons AND 1 1/4 teaspoons (4.3 tbsp). Therefore, I tend to reconstitute my dehydrated eggs at a ratio of 1:1.3 (1/4 cup water to 4.3 tablespoons dehydrated eggs). If I want to reconstitute 4 eggs: 1 cup water to 1 cup, plus 1 tablespoon, plus 1 teaspoon of dehydrated egg powder.
  
  
• Let the powdered eggs soak in the water for around 10 - 15 minutes. (If you didn't powder them first, you would have to soak them initially for nearly 24 hours.)
  
  
• After 10 minutes, thoroughly blend with an immersion blender for perhaps 1 minute. If not yet as smooth as a baby's bottom, soak a little longer, and then blend for another minute. 

There you have it! The eggs will taste as delicious as the day you first scrambled them. You can use them for nearly anything you could need them for, with the exception of sunny-side up eggs. 

Here's more info on reconstituting dehydrated eggs, from PrepSOS. 

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Water Glassing Eggs

Water Glassing Eggs - Place clean, unwashed, eggs in an easy-to-make hydrated lime solution. Water glassing will preserve the fresh raw eggs for at least one year, and probably longer.

The principle behind water glassing is that the tiny hydrated lime particles seal the pores in the eggs, resulting in prolonged preservation of the eggs. The details are on the Water Glassing Eggs page.

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Freezing Eggs

Each compartment of a typical ice tray contains one medium egg weighing 49-50 grams (1.73 - 1.75 ounces). (My 49-gram egg leaked ever so slightly out of its cube.) Of course, the extra-large eggs of a typical American Bresse hen aged one year or more, weigh significantly more - from 60 grams to as much as 80 grams (or even more!). The ten large eggs I recently scrambled filled 13.5 cubes. 

To Freeze Eggs:

• Use fresh, washed eggs.
• Scramble well.
• Pour into ice trays, muffin tins, or other compartmentalized tray.
• Freeze.
• Once frozen, thaw the tray of eggs 10-15 minutes, or just long enough to loosen the cubes in order to remove them from the tray. Re-freeze and store in the freezer in freezer bags. 

To Use:

• Thaw and use! They taste wonderful.
• Calculate one egg per cube. Cheat upward if needed. 

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Freeze Drying Eggs

Freeze Drying Eggs: Freeze dried eggs are good for at least a year when stored in jars for day-to-day use. Follow the directions for dehydrating eggs above, but pour the raw scrambled eggs into the freeze dryer trays. Follow the processing directions provided by your freeze dryer. The time frame will vary, depending on how many trays you fill up inside the freeze dryer.

Once freeze dried, powder the eggs, and then decide how you'd like to store them. There are two ways you can store freeze dried eggs:

1. First - store in glass storage jars on the pantry shelf. The eggs will be good for at least a year.
2. Second - you can store in airtight bags with oxygen absorber packets, in which case the eggs will be good for up to 20 years.

I already want a freeze dryer! They are very pricy machines, but if you process your food frequently for longer-term storage, it may very well be a wise investment.

In the meantime, please check out this video by Moon + Magnolia - it takes only a few minutes for the woman to show you step by step how she freeze dried eight dozen eggs for keeping on hand for a year.

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How to Preserve Eggs in Salt and/or Oil

Preserve Eggs in Salt: This was a common method of egg preservation back when refrigeration was a rare commodity in the United States. It is still a good method to use, should you so desire. It works because salt will desiccate germs and bacteria, thereby protecting the eggs. 

Preserving eggs in salt is very easy to do, if you have enough salt: Simply bury the eggs in plain salt, pointy side up, ensuring the eggs are fully covered and none of them are touching. Eggs preserved in salt should last for around 6 months.

Salt is desiccating - it draws out moisture from both the germs and the eggs. Over time, the eggs will change in texture due to moisture loss. You can still use the eggs - choose them for baking or scrambling. 

Oiling Eggs: Clean the eggs and oil them in mineral oil, lard, or tallow. This serves to block the egg pores, protecting them from germs and moisture loss. Oiling alone will preserve eggs for at least three months.

If you combine these two methods and preserve oiled eggs in salt, your eggs should last for a good two years!

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How to Preserve Eggs by Pickling

Pickling eggs is a tasty way to preserve eggs! Place shelled, hard-boiled eggs into leftover pickle brine, or make your own pickling brine. Cover and let them marinate in the fridge for several days at least.

I love to use beet juice, apple cider vinegar, and finely chopped onions in my homemade brine. Add a bit of ground cloves and a dusting of salt. The end result are delicious eggs that are stained a purplish pink on the outside. The longer they soak in the brine, the brighter the color and the better the flavor.  

Pickled eggs are perfect for a quick snack between springtime or summertime projects on the homestead. They will last in the fridge for several months, that is, if you don't eat them first.

Now you know how to preserve eggs - all the best ways! And with a well-managed supply, you may never run out of eggs all year long. Enjoy!

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