egg-storage-msg - 9/10/04 Period and modern raw egg storage. NOTE: See also the files: eggs-msg, fowls-a-birds-msg, chicken-msg, birds- recipes-msg, breakfast-msg, frittours-msg, Scotch-Eggs-msg. ************************************************************************ 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 ************************************************************************ 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 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 To: sca-cooks at eden.com Date: Thu, 10 Apr 97 18:35:07 -0500 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 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 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" 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" 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" , 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 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 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 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 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 Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Raw Eggs and Bagpipes To: Cooks within the SCA >>> 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) Edited by Mark S. Harris egg-storage-msg 3 of 7