An easy tutorial for water glassing your own eggs as a beginner, such as myself! A great tool to have in your wheelhouse for when you have an abundance of chicken eggs you want to preserve.
What is water glassing?
Water glassing is a way to preserve your eggs for a long amount of time. The use of pickling lime and water seals off the shell giving them a coating that makes them last.
You must use fresh, unwashed, chicken eggs. You cannot use store bought eggs for this, they have been washed and bleached. The eggs have to be straight out the chicken. You can use eggs a week old but that’s about as old as you could get to start water glassing.
Why water glass eggs?
It preserves your eggs for one year to 18 months, expanding the eggs longevity of freshness. It allows you to have same day freshness one year later! After a year though it does start to not taste as fresh, it will be perfect for baking.. you may not like the taste enough to scramble yourself an egg. It’s a great method to have in your wheelhouse for preparedness. Water glassing also keeps bacteria from getting inside your eggs, all the thanks to the limewater solution.
What you’ll need:
- Fresh, unwashed, and unrefrigerated chicken eggs.
- Pickling lime – I use mrs. wages
- A jar with a tight fitting lid
- Water
How to water glass your eggs
You’ll need use the exact ratio of pickling lime vs water, no matter the size of the jar you’re using.. The ratio is one quart of water to one ounce of pickling lime. You’ll want about 2 inches or more of clearance of the solution covering the tops of the eggs. I am using a one gallon jar, so I used 2 quarts and 2 ounces of pickling lime. (As you can see I used a scale for this)
Mix the pickling lime into the water until completely dissolved and carefully place the eggs into the solution.
After you’ve placed the eggs in, tighten the lid and place in a cool dark place for 12-18 months.
How do you know if the eggs are still good after a year?
You can always find out the easy way if an egg is good or not by a float test. If in cold water, the egg floats to the top, it’s a bad egg. You’ll want to discard! The reason the float test works is because air builds up inside the egg as it gets old, increasing its buoyancy.
People have water glassed eggs for generations
This method of practicing water glassing eggs, has been used since the early 1800s. The Boston Cooking School Cookbook by Fannie Farmer was found with instructions on how to water glass and preserve your eggs.
I am so glad I’ve added this practice into our home. I love knowing that whenever I have an abundance of eggs, I can do this instead of letting them go to waste!
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I hope this tutorial inspires you to water glass your own eggs! I love that I have added something new to my homesteading wheel house!
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