Water glassing eggs is a great way to preserve your excess farm fresh eggs raw for long term storage. Using this method of a hydrated lime and water solution you can store your eggs at room temperature, saving precious room in your refrigerator and freezer.
It’s an old time preservation method. Fannie Farmer’s The Boston Cooking School Cook Book published in 1896 gives instructions on how to water glass eggs. Upon my discovering this method, I mentioned it to my grandmother and she can recall folks using it when she was a girl.
Water glassing eggs is especially helpful in the Springtime when your hens are laying exceptionally well and you cannot keep up with them all. We are a family of five, and in the thick of Spring our 14 hens produce more than we can eat and give away! This is my favorite way of preserving eggs. Because they are raw and room temperature, it makes them so easy to use post-preserving.
Last year we water glassed eggs and used them throughout the Winter months when the hens weren’t laying much. Even 9 months after preserving, we were still using the eggs! The longer the eggs are in the solution, the less firm the whites and yolks become, but they do not spoil. Some people keep eggs up to 2 years this way. I personally have no need to keep them that long. Eggs kept this way are best used as scrambled and in baking and cooking recipes. The firmness begins to degrade over time, making over easy eggs not really possible.
Chickens naturally taper off laying in the Winter months when the days are shorter and there is less light to stimulate the pituitary gland. A lot of people (and all big chicken farms) combat this tapering off by supplementing artificial light for the birds. Here on our little homestead we see this natural break in the laying cycle as good and healthy for the chickens. We do not supplement lighting, but instead preserve the excess eggs for the Winter months. It doesn’t make much sense to buy eggs at the store when our own chickens aren’t laying, (although we have done that!) since the main point for raising our own is quality of both the eggs and the lives of the chickens. Plus compost and homestead entertainment!
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It is very simple to water glass your eggs. Start with fresh, naturally clean, unwashed eggs. Eggs have a natural protective coating called the “bloom” to protect the egg from bacterial invasion. Washing the eggs before water glassing them removes the bloom, and makes the eggs spoil in the lime solution. This can be avoided by making sure the nesting areas and coop are clean and fresh on a regular basis.
Hydrated lime is the same as pickling lime. No, water glassing your eggs does not make pickled eggs, ha, ha. You can find it anywhere canning supplies is sold. Or you can even find it in bulk at a hardware store like Lowe’s or Home Depot.
You will need:
Fresh Clean Eggs
Hydrated Lime
Water
Jars or buckets with lids
Kitchen Scale
Take your clean container, jars or buckets and gently place your eggs in them. Be sure to leave some headspace for the solution to completely cover the eggs. The lime to water ratio is 1 ounce dry weight of lime to 1 quart of water. Do not use hot water or you may risk partially cooking your eggs.
Thoroughly mix the solution and pour over the eggs. I found that 1 quart of solution was just perfect for a 1/2 gallon mason jar of eggs.
After making sure your eggs are completely submerged in the solution, cover your jar or container to prevent evaporation and of course, spills. Store out of direct sunlight. I have some in mason jars as well as a 5 gallon pail. Label your containers with at least the month and year and you’re good to go!
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