DIVISION OF POl'LTRY 631 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



THE PRESERVATION OF EGGS. 



BY 



Frank T. Shutt, M.A., Dominion Chemist. 



Experiments in egg preservation have been carried on by the Division of 

 Chemistry during the past fifteen years, in order to obtain information for our 

 numerous correspondents as to the best preservative for use in the home. In this 

 ]ong period a large number of fluids and preparations advertised us egg preservatives 

 have been put under trial. These, for the most part, have proved utter failures, and, 

 looking back over our records, we cannot find one of these numerous nostrums that 

 can be unhesitatingly recommended. 



The two best media arc lime water and a solution of water glass (sodium silicate) 

 and these two have been tested side by side, year alter year, with the same result — 

 that lime water has shown itself the more effective preservative.* Not infrequently 

 eggs have been kept in this medium, quite sound and fit for cooking purposes, for 

 more than a year. The three essentials to success are, absolute freshness of the egg 

 when placed in the lime water, protection of the surface of the lime water from 

 the atmosphere (or occasional renewal of the lime water) and the keeping of the 

 vessel containing the eggs at a moderately low temperature — preferably 40° to 45° F. 



/ 



COMBINE BAREAL. 



This recently introduced preparation for the preservation of eggs is apparently 

 made in France, but is sold to some extent in Canada and the United States. To 

 furnish information to correspondents regarding its nature and merits we, last 

 summer, submitted it to analysis and at the same time made a practical trial with it 

 in the keeping of eggs. 



It is put up in the form of small cakes (weighing about 3 ounces each), of a 

 light yellowish tinge, hard and brittle, breaking with a somewhat glassy or conchoidal 

 fracture. Each cake, it is stated, yields sufficient preservative fluid for 100 eggs. 

 It is described in the circular advertising it, as a chemical combination, antiseptic 

 and non-poisonous, and the statement is made that it will preserve eggs for nine 

 months in the same condition as when laid. The directions arc to dissolve one cake 

 in seven pints of cold water, stirring four or five times during two days to hasten 

 solution. A slight deposit settles out, but this is allowed to remain. 



Analysis showed it to consist essentially of lime, a gum (probably gum arabic) 

 and boracic acid. It forms a thick solution or emulsion with water, leaving very 

 little residue. It effervesces slightly on the addition of acid, showing that a portion 

 of the lime had become carbonated. 



Two dozen strictly fresh eggs were placed in the Barral preservative prepared 

 according to directions on October the 4th, 1912, the vessel being kept in the cellar 

 of the laboratory. The examination of trie eggs was made on June the 4th, 1913, 

 when the following notes were made: — ■ 



On breaking, the yolks in the larger number were found to be fairly globular, 

 hut the retaining integument in some instances had materially softened, as shown 

 by a slightly flattened appearance and a tenderness which made it somewhat difficult 



* A circular describing the preparation of lime water and water-glass solution will be 

 forwarded on application to the Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa. 



