146 



THE GENESEE FARMER 



HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 



As the season approaches when hens are most 

 prolific of eggs, and eggs are plenty and low in 

 price, is the best time to preserve them for future 

 US e — when they are scarce and dear. We offer 

 the following receipts for the benefit of the readers 

 of the Genesee Farmer ; several of which we have 

 repeatedly tried with perfect success, and found 

 the eggs, after one year's packing, perfectly sound 

 and tit for eating and all culinary purposes. 



Nothing was known scientifically on the subject 

 of preserving eggs till M. Reaumur was led to take 

 it up. Eggs, after being laid, it was shown, lost 

 daily by transpiration a portion of the matter 

 which they contain, notwithstanding the compact 

 texture of their shell and of the close tissue of the 

 flexible membrane lining the shell and enveloping 

 the white. When an egg is fresh, it is proverbial- 

 ly full, without any vacancy : and this is a matter 

 of common observation, whether it be broken raw, 

 or when it is either soft or hard boiled. But in all 

 stale eggs, on the contrary, there is always more or 

 less vacancy, in proportion to the loss they have 

 sustained by transpiration; and hence, in order to 

 judge of the freshness of an egg, it is usual to hold 

 it up to the light, when the translucency of the 

 shell makes it appear whether or not there be any 

 vacancy in the upper portion, as well as whether 

 the yolk and white are mingled and turbid by the 

 rotting and bursting of their enveloping mem- 

 branes. 



The transpiration of eggs, besides, is propor- 

 tioned to the temperature in which they may be 

 placed — cold retarding and heat promoting the 

 process. Hence, by keeping a fresh laid egg in a 

 cool, dry cellar, of even temperature, they will 

 transpire less and be preserved for a longer period 

 .sound, than if they are kept in a warm place or ex- 

 posed to the sun's light, which has also a great 

 effect in promoting the exhalation of moisture. 

 As, therefore, fermentation and putridity can only 

 take place by communication with the air at a 

 moderate temperature, some means must be devised 

 to exclude such connection by closing the pores of 

 the shell. 



Thd first material which M. Reaumur tried was 

 alcohol varnish, made with shellac, and he says 

 that "it was impossible to distinguish the var- 

 nished eggs, which had been kept for a year, from 

 those newly laid." 



It is an indispensable condition of the material 

 used for stopping the pores of the shell of the egg, 

 that it should not be capable of being dissolved by 

 the moisture transpired from the interior, and the 

 varnish fulfilled this condition. But unfortunately, 

 though varnish is not very expensive, it is not a 

 common article in country places where eggs are 

 most abundantly produced, while many people, be- 

 sides, are not easily brought to make use of any- 

 thing to which they have not been accustomed. 



In order to get over this difficulty, M. Reaumur 

 was led to try other substances, and soon found 

 another material, very cheap and everywhere to be 

 had, which would very well supply the place of 

 varnish. The material was fat or grease, such as 

 suet or lard. But the best of these was proved to 

 be a mixture of mutton and beef suet, melted to- 

 gether over a slow fire, and strained through a linen 



cloth into an earthenware pan. When thoroughly 

 melted, an egg was dipped into it, and immediately 

 taken out again, when it was in a fit state to be kept 

 for months or more. Five lbs. of this fat melted 

 might prepare all the eggs produced in the neigh- 

 borhood in one season. 



"The chief advantage in the use of this fat, 

 rather than varnish, is that the eggs rubbed over 

 will boil as quickly as if nothing had been done to 

 them — the fat melting off as soon as thpy touch the 

 hot water; wheraas the varnish, not being soluble 

 even in hot water, only becomes moistened by it, 

 and still hanging about the egg, prevents the transpi- 

 ration of the juices necessary to bring the egg into 

 that state in which it is to be eaten. SVhen the 

 egg, on the other hand, which has been preserved 

 by the fat, is taken out of the water there remains 

 but little tat upon it, and what there is can easily 

 be wiped off upon a napkin." 



The method of preserving eggs by means of fat 

 is greatly preferable to that of varnish, when they 

 are intended for putting under a hen to be hatched, 

 for the fat easily melts away by the heat of the 

 body of the hen, while the varnish remains and 

 impedes the hatching. It is safer, however, to im- 

 merse the eggs in hot water not exceeding 100°, 

 and then wipe them carefully with flannel or soft 

 woolen cloth. By this means, and carefully packed 

 in dry sawdust, oat3, or almost any other dry, soft 

 substance, if fresh laid, eggs may be carried to a 

 distance and hatched. 



In the meanwhile air should be excluded from 

 the eggs as much as possible. It is best to set 

 them on end, and not to suffer them to lie and roll 

 on their sides. Dry sand or hard-wood sawdust is 

 the best for packing. When choice eggs are ex- 

 pected, it is more prudent to have a hen waiting 

 for them, than to let them wait for her. A good 

 sitter may be amused with a few addled or glass 

 eggs, and so be ready to take charge of those of 

 value immediately on their arrival. 



There is another method of preserving eggs a 

 long while fresh, depending on very different prin- 

 ciples from the preceding, but well worth notice. 

 We are indebted for the discovery, if indeed it can 

 be termed one, to the same ingenious French expe- 

 rimenter, M. Reaumur. Having remarked that 

 there was a very great difference among eggs as to 

 the rapidity with which they become unfit for use 

 and putrid, he investigated the cause of this differ- 

 ence, and found that it was the eggs which had not 

 been fecundated or made reproductive by the cock 

 that continue long uncorrupted. In order, there- 

 fore, to have eggs to keep fresh from spring to the 

 middle or even the end of winter, it is only neces- 

 sary to remove the cocks and to deprive the hens 

 of all communication with them for at least a 

 month before the eggs are put away. Without 

 knowing this, people often find among the eggs 

 they buy some which soon spoil and others that 

 will keep for a long time. 



Some hens produce eggs with much thicker 

 shells than others. These of course will keep 

 longer than those with thin shells. The egg3 from 

 Guinea hens are the hardest, and will keep longer 

 and bear transportation better than any others. 



Eggs may be kept any length of time, if the air 

 is perfectly excluded, turned often, and the place 

 of deposit kept at a low temperature. We have 



