Spring has Sprung, and the Hens are Laying!

Spring brings us longer days, rain, beautiful flowers, vegetable seedlings, and TONS OF EGGS!  Normally, I can gift all of my extra eggs to the neighbors, but this year it's been a bit more challenging.

Over the winter months, I did some research on how to preserve fresh eggs, and the one I wanted to try first was 'Water Glassing', which has been employed since the early 1800's.

According to my sources, water glassing will preserve eggs for MONTHS - like up to 24 months!!  However, most people recommend 12 to 18 months.  This method preserves the entire egg, shell and all, to be used at a later time - just as if they were farm fresh that day.

The main thing to remember about this preservation method is that the eggs must be super fresh, and clean from the nest.  That is, you CANNOT clean the eggs if they are dirty as the bloom MUST BE INTACT for water glassing.

Many people use 5-gallon food grade plastic buckets, but I am using 1/2 gallon mason jars since they fit nicely on a pantry shelf.

Ingredients:

1/2 Gallon Mason Jar

Pickling Lime

Distilled or Spring Water (also, you can boil 'city' water and let it cool to room temperature - this removes the chlorine and fluoride)

Fresh Eggs

Instructions:

Carefully place the eggs, pointy side down, into the mason jar.  Fill the jar all the way to the top.  If you don't have enough eggs to fill the far, you can proceed with the instructions, and just add fresh eggs to the jar as you have them.

Next, you will need to measure the pickling lime:  1 ounce of pickling lime for 1 quart of distilled/spring water.  Normally, it only takes one quart of water to fill the half-gallon mason jar.

Add the distilled water to the pickling lime, and mix well.  the water will be very cloudy/opaque

Now, just carefully poor the pickling lime/water mixture into the mason jar, covering the eggs entirely.  Put a lid on the jar and store in a cool, dark pantry.

You will just pull the eggs you need as you need them, making sure to wash them thoroughly.  It is recommended that you pull several at a time, and rinse them thoroughly and then store in the refrigerator.