Six Historical Egg Preservation Techniques
Kevin Felts 09.04.17
In this video, Jas. Townsend & son, historical reenactors, does an excellent job of comparing different types of egg preservation techniques from the 18th century.
Why are we looking to historical reenactors? Because we are applying history to modern prepping. Rather than having to recreate the wheel, let’s look at what our ancestors use to do.
For preppers, eggs are possibly the perfect food. Unlike other sources of protein, eggs can be stored until ready to eat. Rather than having to kill and butcher something, eggs are a food source without having to kill a living creature.
Techniques from the video:
- Burying eggs in salt or a brine solution.
- Burying eggs in wheat bran.
- Coating eggs with varnish.
- Coating eggs with butter or wax.
- Wood ash.
- Slaked lime (Calcium hydroxide).
The video
I figured a salt solution (brine) would be the longest preservation technique, but it was one of the shortest.
Since eggs porous and will absorb from whatever is touching them, applying varnish seems like a bad idea. It seems he egg would absorb the varnish, and you would end up eating it.
Coating the eggs with butter or wax seems like a lot better idea than using varnish.
I am very surprised that the wood ash had an 80% success rate. Only 20% of the eggs went bad after eight months.
Until watching this video, I had never heard of slaked lime, which is different from ground up lime stone.
To store the eggs in slaked lime (hydrated lime):
- Add a couple of ounces of slaked lime to the bottom of a jar.
- Add the eggs.
- Mix one quart of water to one ounce of hydrated lime.
- Fill the container until the eggs are covered.
From the video, there are some references that say eggs kept in a hydrated lime solution will stay good for up to two years.
Special thank you to Jas. Townsend & son for the excellent video. Keep up the great work.
