egg-storage-msg - 2/1/12

Period and modern raw egg storage.

NOTE: See also the files: eggs-msg, egg-whites-msg, fowls-a-birds-msg, chicken-msg, eggs-stuffed-msg, birds-recipes-msg, breakfast-msg, frittours-msg, Scotch-Eggs-msg.

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NOTICE -

This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I  have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

I  have done  a limited amount  of  editing. Messages having to do  with separate topics  were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the  message IDs  were removed to save space and remove clutter.

The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make  no claims  as  to the accuracy  of  the information  given  by the individual authors.

Please  respect the time  and  efforts of  those who have written  these messages. The  copyright status  of these messages  is  unclear  at this time. If  information  is  published  from  these  messages, please give credit to the originator(s).

Thank you,
    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous
                                          Stefan at florilegium.org
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From: z009341b at bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us (Victoria Gilliam)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Thanx for Pennsic food storage help
Date: 4 Aug 1995 19:47:26 GMT
Organization: SEFLIN Free-Net - Broward

I just had to post to my friends here on the Rialto.

I live in South Florida, and recently, when Erin was supposed to be 
hitting us, we had a dozen and a half eggs in the fridge, and my mother 
wanted to boil them _all_ in preperation for the Hurricane.  I told her 
about a trick I read right here on the Rialto--Dunk the raw eggs in 
boiling water for 2-3 seconds, protecting them from cracks and allowing 
you to keep them for about 1 week unrefridgerated.  

We did this to about half the eggs (the other half were hard-cooked).  
Thankfully, Erin missed us completely.  I've used some of the 'Dipped' 
eggs, and found that they seem no different than raw when used, except 
for the skin of cooked egg on the inside of the shell.

THANK YOU ALL for the Pennsic food prep information!!!  It works well for 
hurricane preparation too!

Ellsbeth Lachlanina MacLabhruinn
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Vycke' Gilliam                       z009341b at bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us


From: Aoife <liontamr at postoffice.ptd.net>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Keeping meat (was: one "pot" meal)
Date: 4 Sep 1996 20:22:54 GMT
Organization: ProLog - PenTeleData, Inc.

Eggs can be dipped in wax for longer life, and kept in a cool, 
cradled place. In England into this century it was possible to purchase a 
commercial egg-dip product which helped preserve the eggs without 
refrigeration. 

Aoife
liontamr at ptd.net


From: Dottie Elliott <macdj at onr.com>
To: sca-cooks at eden.com
Date: Thu, 10 Apr 97 18:35:07 -0500

<snip>

Clarissa

PS. Just something interesting I learned the other day about eggs:
Why do we refrigerate eggs when folks in the 1800s and earlier did not?  
According to the folks at the pioneer farm here in Austin, fresh from the 
chicken eggs are coated in a substance that seals the eggs air tight and 
can therefore be left sitting in a bowl. Egg farmers today wash that 
substance off so we must refrigerate the eggs today to keep them fresh. 


From: dragon7777 at juno.com (Susan A Allen)
Date: Fri, 11 Apr 1997 20:43:12 -0700
Subject: Re: sca-cooks Eggs

I believe that eggs were also kept packed in clay
and more commonly packed in Lard, in fact
my grandmother (born in 1890) taught me how
to store goose without refrigeration, first you
bake it (actually several), then, store it in a barrel 
with the goose grease poured over it to the top of the barrel.

This is a hot pack process, very little could
grow in this barrel, the grease, first inch or so
might get rancid, but the underlaying food
kept very well, she would know, she ate it.

Susan


From: Mark Schuldenfrei <schuldy at abel.MATH.HARVARD.EDU>
To: sca-cooks at eden.com
Subject: Re: sca-cooks keeping eggs fresh
Date: Fri, 11 Apr 1997 10:42:17 -0400 (EDT)

Aoife: Eggs can be dipped in wax for longer life, and kept in a cool, 
  cradled place. In England into this century it was possible to purchase a 
  commercial egg-dip product which helped preserve the eggs without 
  refrigeration. 

This was recently discussed in great detail in the Usenet newsgroup
rec.food.historic.  Go visit http://www.dejanews.com to find it.  It
involved a silicon material that is still available, and dipping.  I'm
afraid I skimmed it, and didn't save it.

	Tibor


From: L Herr-Gelatt and J R Gelatt <liontamr at postoffice.ptd.net>
Date: Sat, 12 Apr 1997 20:56:55 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Re: sca-cooks V1 #38

>  Aoife: Eggs can be dipped in wax for longer life, and kept in a cool, 
>  cradled place. In England into this century it was possible to purchase a 
>  commercial egg-dip product which helped preserve the eggs without 
>  refrigeration. 
>
>This was recently discussed in great detail in the Usenet newsgroup
>rec.food.historic.  Go visit http://www.dejanews.com to find it.  It
>involved a silicon material that is still available, and dipping.  I'm
>afraid I skimmed it, and didn't save it.
>
>	Tibor

I'm afraid this one is mine, too. Someone on rec.food.historic asked how to
preserve eggs (no FAQ for that group, yet?). The substance I quoted was
called waterglass, or a chemical called sodium something-or-other, and I
gave rather lengthy instructions quoted from a 1950's British cookery book.

The general consensus is that eggs, laid straight from the hen, will keep
well for a few days in a dry, not too hot, cradled place. Waterglass hardens
the shells and makes then non-permeable to oxygen. The same effect is
achieved by dipping in cooling wax or smearing with clarified fat such as
lard. Apparently there is another commercial product from Britain in the
50's that involves a fat and a solvent mixed together and smeared on the
eggs. Supermarket eggs (chilled), and eggs that have been commercially
washed, are probably not good candidates for keeping because of the layer of
shell that is removed (microscopic but necessary) that controlls oxidation.
Most of these are not my opinions, folks, but the consensus on another news
group.

Are we confused yet?

Aoife


Date: Fri, 5 Jun 1998 13:38:17 SAST-2
From: "Ian van Tets" <IVANTETS at botzoo.uct.ac.za>
Subject: SC - Keeping eggs

Why is keeping eggs, whether in or out of the fridge, such a problem?
I cover mine in petroleum jelly/Vaseline/ whatever your local term is
and they keep for several months.  When we used to keep
chooks/fowls/chickens we wrote the date on the eggs so we used up
the oldest ones first, but gluts do happen.  I don't think I've ever
had any eggs that were more than 5 months old, but the problem with
eggs is their porosity.  If you fix that, there's no problem.  I
believe lard also does the same job, though have not tried it.

Cairistiona


Date: Fri, 05 Jun 98 10:19:40 -0600
From: upsxdls at okway.okstate.edu
Subject: Re[2]: SC - Keeping eggs

     > Why is keeping eggs, whether in or out of the fridge, such a problem?

     Although I use eggs rapidly, much to my cholesterol's dismay, you can
     easily test the freshness of an egg before breaking it by floating it in a
     pan of water.  The fresher the egg is, the flatter it lays on the bottom.
     If the egg floats, without touching the bottom of the pan -- pitch it out!
     Don't bother to break it. PU!

     Leah Anna of Sparrowhaven


Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1998 06:08:00 -0700
From: "Anne-Marie Rousseau" <acrouss at gte.net>
Subject: Re: SC - Pennsic Menu -- LONG

Might I recommend for breakfasts Herbolade?
mince an onion and clarify in good olive oil. Throw in a bag of that
irradiated pre-washed spinach. Let sweat down. Break and beat a dozen eggs.
Throw in and stir. Stir occasionally until the eggs are almost set. Sprinkle
with grated cheese of choice (we used pre-grated provolone and cheddar we
can get in bags). Cover and let burble till cheese melts.

there are several versions of this in the English/French corpus, some with
cheese some without. We've done it with spinache, and also with bags of
fancy salad greens.

In my experience, eggs transport just fine without a cooler, assuming you
buy them right before you leave and keep them in the shade under a wet
cloth, in the carton you bought them in to protect them.

have fun!
- --Anne-Marie, working on her own menu for Coronation...to be cooked


Date: Tue, 27 Oct 1998 08:56:36 -0700 (MST)
From: grasse at mscd.edu
Subject: RE: SC - Islinglass suggestion possibly OOP

From: "Robyn Probert" <robyn.probert at lawpoint.com.au>, on 10/27/1998 5:51 AM:
> Isinglass was also used to preserve eggs through winter - it formed a
> coating on the outside preventing air from getting in.

 This topic was discussed a few weeks ago on rec.food.preserving.  The gist
of the conversation was that in mundane parlance it is called waterglass,
and that:

  1)  Waterglass may well be Sodium Silicate
  2)  Vaseline (or other solid fat) may also be used to seal out air
      and preserve fresh eggs which then should be packed in bran so they 
      do not touch each other.
  3)  The eggs must be freshly laid ... store-bought is not fresh enough...

There was also a recipe for Eggs preserved in lime water.  Don't know if
this would be on topic or not.  I have the web address for the archived
message for anyone who is interested in the mundane version.

Gwen-Cat
Caerthe


Date: Mon, 15 Mar 1999 17:45:09 -0800
From: Maryann Olson <maryann.olson at csun.edu>
Subject: SC - SC Eggs Question

A friend and I were going through recipe books when we came across the
following:
        "In order to have enough eggs for winter use
        (hens lay more eggs during March, April, May
        and June on the farm), and to take care of the
        deluge of eggs during the peak laying months,
        Great-grandma preserved her own.  She might
        have used mucilage made of gum arabic or
        gum tragacanth dissolved in water; albumen,
        or the white of egg; collodion, linseed oil,
        paraffin; shellac, or other varnish;
        saltpeter, lard, sugar syrup, finely
        powdered gypsum, or plaster of Paris,
        dry salt, and various solutions such as
        lime or soda, in water.  The eggs, after
        having the solution brushed on, dried on a
        bed of dry sand or blotting paper, were
        then packed, with the small ends down, in
        pails, tubs, or cases in dry bran, meal, or
        flour."      _Cooking with Honey_, page 150

        If anyone is interested, I will ask my friend
        for the author and other information.  It was
        her mother's cookbook, probably from the 1940's
        or so.

Question:  Where would I look for more information on methods of keeping
eggs before modern conveniences?  Can any of you shed more light on this
subject for me?

Gertraud


Date: Mon, 15 Mar 1999 19:19:26 -0800 (PST)
From: Laura C Minnick <lainie at gladstone.uoregon.edu>
Subject: Re: SC - SC Eggs Question

On Mon, 15 Mar 1999, Maryann Olson wrote:
> Question:  Where would I look for more information on methods of keeping
> eggs before modern conveniences?  Can any of you shed more light on this
> subject for me?

I can't tell you of a period method storing eggs, but...

        Some fifteen years (and another lifetime ago) I worked as
Assistant Tour director for a small museum in Puyallup, Washington, called
the Meeker Mansion. We ran tours of the c.1890 house and did talks on Ezra
Meeker and why he was important, etc. This included going over the trip
west in the wagon from Iowa. In Ezra's autobiography, he praised his
little wife (all 4'9" of her) Eliza for her prudent managment of the food
for the trip, saying that her skill kept them alive. He mentions that she
packed her eggs in the center of the flour barrel, towards the bottom. It
was cool in there- if you've ever stuck you hand in a flour bin, you know
what I mean- and the flour kept the eggs relatively out of the air.
Howsomever, the eggs kept, the little family thrived. At least until they
got to the Puyallup valley, which is just as wet as Portland or Seattle,
and maybe more so. The cold and damp nearly killed them all with chronic
bronchitis and pneumonia that winter. I grew up there. I know what it's
like! :-)

'Lainie
- -
Laura C. Minnick
University of Oregon
Department of English


Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1999 09:11:18 -0500
From: snowfire at mail.snet.net
Subject: Re: SC - SC Eggs Question

><< Question:  Where would I look for more information on methods of keeping
> eggs before modern conveniences?  Can any of you shed more light on this
> subject for me?

Here are two ways eggs were preserved in Britain.  My source is about the
1940s.  I don't know how old the methods are.

To store an egg reliably, it had to be newly laid or one day old at the most.
Usually eggs were preserved in March, April and May.

The most popular method was to put the eggs into a bucket or earthenware
container and cover them with waterglass (sodium silicate).  The alkali
retarded the growth of micro-organisms and the silicate formed a protective
coating on the shell.

There was also a solution called OTEG available to dip the eggs into.  The
solution dried to form a coat of varnish on the shell, thus sealing it.

Elysant


Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1999 10:52:49 -0500
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - SC Eggs Question

<< Question:  Where would I look for more information on methods of keeping
 eggs before modern conveniences?  Can any of you shed more light on this
 subject for me? >>

Dick's Practical Encyclopedia (yes, one of its dimensions is 10"), which
was re-issued in the 1960's subtitled "How They Did It in the 1870's",
mentions various coatings, ranging from olive oil, melted beeswax,
paraffine (by which I presume they mean what Americans call kerosene),
and varnishing compounds like collodion, in some cases supplemented
after coating by burying in sawdust, bran, or charcoal dust.

It's possible the sodium silicate method was unknown as of the date of
this publication, which, at the moment, I can only narrow down to the
1870's, definitely after 1863, based on one of its bibliographical sources.

Adamantius


Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2001 12:01:30 -0700
From: Solstice Studios <solstice at moscow.com>
Subject: SC - Raw Eggs

I have found that the pastuerized eggs in a box work nicely for all sorts of dishes, and they should be quite safe.  You do need to check the ingrediants, though, if you are doing a sweet, as some of the eggsinabox have small amounts of onion powder  added to them.  When I make egg nogs or sweets I check to be sure I get one without such additives.

- -Aleska


Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2004 07:05:52 -0400
From: Avraham haRofeh <avrahamharofeh at herald.sca.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Raw Eggs and Bagpipes
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>

>>> You don't carry a raw egg with you when you drive?
>>>
>> No, I don't.  Though I could, since I can make my glove box air-
>> conditioned (at least while the car is running...)
>
> Even for eating, eggs will keep a lot longer than many folks think. For
> this use, [ plugging radiator holes - Stefan] I suspect they'll keep even 
> longer so long as they don't explode. :-)

The FDA says 60 days. I have safely used eggs for scrambling past 90 days.
As the egg ages, there is some breakdown of the proteins, so the white no
longer "sits up" beneath the yolk when made sunny-side-up, and there is some
dehydration through the shell, so the volumes can be somewhat off for
baking.
****************
Reb Avraham haRofeh
      (mka Randy Goldberg MD)


Date: Fri, 3 Apr 2009 18:36:57 -0500
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at att.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Eggs was Hi again everyone!!!
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

"The best way to keep eggs is in bean meal or flour and during winter in 
chaff, but fior the summertime in bran."  Pliny, Natural Histories.

"The manner to keep eggs a long time is, in the winter in straw and in 
summer in bran or meal."  Columella

"Because egges of themselves are a singular profit, you shall understand 
that the best way to preserve or keepe them long is, as some thinke, to lay 
them in straw and cover them close; but that is too cold, and besides it 
will make them mustie.  Others lay them in branne, but that is too hot.  The 
best way to keepe them most sweet, most sound and most full, is only to 
keepe them in a heape of old malt, close and well covered all over." 
Gervase Markham, Cheape and Good Husbandrie, 1616.

Unless there is direct evidence to the contrary, sealing the pores of the 
egg to prevent transpiration may be attributed to Rene Antoine Ferchault de 
Reaumur (1683-1757).  Among his many scientific investigations, he studied 
how eggs went bad and determined that transpiration through the shell was 
the primary cause.  He determined that keeping eggs in a cool cellar, or 
better, an ice house, reduced transpiration.  He first experimented with 
sealing the egg in a varnish made of spirits of wine, then switched to fats 
as a more practical means of sealing eggs.  He developed a mixture of mutton 
and beef suet that that was effective and more practical for rural farmers 
engaged in commercial production..  He also determined that unfertilized 
eggs could be preserved longer than fertile ones.

Bear 


Date: Fri, 03 Apr 2009 16:46:58 -0700
From: "Laura C. Minnick" <lcm at jeffnet.org>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Eggs was Hi again everyone!!!
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Terry Decker wrote:
<<< "The best way to keep eggs is in bean meal or flour and during winter 
in chaff, but fior the summertime in bran."  Pliny, Natural Histories.

"The manner to keep eggs a long time is, in the winter in straw and in 
summer in bran or meal."  Columella >>>

This reminds me- totally OOP, but I have a book written by Ezra Meeker, 
one of the more important pioneers to land in Washington state. In his 
account of the trip out from the Midwest, he noted that his wife buried 
eggs in the flour barrel, too keep them cool. Sounds like Eliza Jane 
wasn't the first one to think of this!

'Lainie


Date: Sat, 4 Apr 2009 00:28:57 -0500
From: "Terry Decker" <t.d.decker at att.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Storing eggs through Lent,	WAS Re:  Hi again
	everyone!!!
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Chimene said:
 <<< Butter or soft beeswax would certainly have been available  in 
period, for the anti-oxygen sealing...>>>

I'm pretty certain that beeswax was way too expensive in period to be 
used for this. Remember that it was only the very rich or the Church 
which used beeswax for candles in period.

Stefan
----------

They also had suet, lard, butter and olive oil, all of which have been used 
to seal eggs for preservation.  The problem I'm having is I can't find any 
reference to sealing eggs in this manner in Europe prior to the 18th 
Century.

Bear 


Date: Fri, 03 Apr 2009 22:38:34 -0400
From: Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Storing eggs through Lent
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Nambeanntan at aol.com wrote:
<<< Now, can anyone document  any of these, beyond "common  sense"??
Chimene >>>

Sounds like a job for a Librarian...

Here in a quick search...

Egges are preserued in Winter, yf you keepe them in Chaffe, Straw, or 
Leuen, and in sommer, yf you couer them with Branne, or Wheate. Some doo 
couer them before in fine beaten salt for the space of sixe houres, and 
after wash them, & so lay them in Chaffe, Straw, or Branne. Others 
agayne couer them in Beanes, and some in Beane floure, and some in 
heapes of salt: but salte, as it suffereth not the Egges to corrupt, so 
it greatly deminisheth the substance of them. page 162

from Heresbach, Conrad, 1496-1576. Foure bookes of husbandry, collected 
by M. Conradus Heresbachius. 1577.

To know if the egge be new, you must make such triall as we haue set 
downe to be vsed, to proue and know such as are good to be set.

The huswife that maketh account to sell egges, must in Winter keepe them 
warme vpon straw, and well couered; and in Summer coole in Bran, 
according to the aduise of old Writers: but (be it spoken vnder 
correction) I am quite of a contrarie mind; for the Straw is coole, and 
the Bran hot: Adde further, that egges kept in Bran in Summer doe 
corrupt the sooner. They which doe couer and powder them with salt, or 
lay them in brine, doe impaire them, and leaue them not whole and full, 
which will be a hinderance in the sale of them: and there is no doubt 
but that the egge doth take some bad rellish also by that meanes. The 
Cellar is a good place to keepe them in both Winter and Summer. page 73

 From Estienne, Charles, 1504-ca. 1564. Maison rustique, or The countrey 
farme? Compyled in the French tongue by Charles Steuens, and Iohn 
Liebault, Doctors of Physicke. 
this edition was Englished and edited by Gervase Markham. 1616. Estienne 
died in 1564 so this work in French dates before 1600.

Johnnae

<the end>
Edited by Mark S. Harris	egg-storage-msg	10 of 10