The Portland daily press., 1881-07-27
THE PRESS.
The Preservation of Eggs.

In the common "liming'' process tight
barrel is half filled with cold water, into
which is stirred Stacked lime and salt in the
proportion of about one-half pound each for
every pail and bucket of water. Some deal
ers use no salt, and others add small guam
tity of nitre-one quarter-pound to the half
barrel of pickle Into this the eggs, which
must be perfectly fresh and sound, are lei
down with dish, when they settle to the
bottom, small end down. The eggs displace
the liquid, so that when the barrel is full of
eggs it is also full Of the pickle. Eggs thus
picked, if kept in good place, will ordina-
rily keep good for several months Long
storage in this liquid, however, is apt to
make the shells brittle and impart a limy
taste to their contents. This may be in a
great measure avoided by amounting the
shells all over with lard before putting in the
pickle. Eggs thus prepared are said to
keep perfectly for six months or more when
stored in cool cellar.
A much better method of storing eggs is
the following: Having selected perfectly
fresh eggs, put them, dozen or more at a
time, into small willow basket, and i'm
merse this for five seconds in boiling water
containing about five pounds of common
brown sugar per gallon of water. Place
the eggs Immediately after on trays to dry.
The scaldng water causes the formation of
"a
surface of the shell, the sugar effectually
closing all the pores of the latter. The cool
eggs are then packed, small end down, in an
intimate mixture of one measure of good
charcoal, finely powdered, and two meas
ures of dry bran. Eggs thus stored have
been found perfectly fresh and unaltered at
ter six months.
A French authority gives the following:
Melt four ounces of clear beeswaX in porce
II. l.. ~.
ounces of olive oil. Let the resulting Solu-
ton OF wax in oil cool somewhat, then dip
the fresh eggs one by one into it so as to
coat every part of the shell. A nomentary
dip is sufficient, all excess of the mixture
being wiped off with cotton cloth. The
oil is absorbed in the shell, the wax hermet-
ically closing all the pores 1t is claimed
that eggs thus treated and packed away in
powdered charcoal in cool place have
been found after two years as fresh and pal
atable as when newly laid. Paraffine,
which melts to thin liquid at tempera-
ture below the boiling of water and has the
advantage Of being odorless, tasteless, harm
less and cheap, can be advantageously sub
stituted for the wax and oil, and used in a
similar manner. Thus coated and put into
the lime pickle, the eggs may be safely
stored for many months; in charcoal, under
favorable circumstances, for year or more.
Dry salt is frequently recommended as a
good preservative packing for stored eggs,
but practical experience has shown that
salt alone is little better than dry bran, es-
pecially if stored in a damp place or exposed
TO humid air. A mixture of eight measures
of bran with one of powdered quicklime
makes an excellent packing for eggs in
transportation.
Water glass-silicate of soda-has recent
ly been used in Germany for rendering the
shells of eggs non-porous. A small quanti-
ty of the clear syrupy solution is smeared
over the entire surface of the SHELL. On
drying, thin, hard, CLASSY film remains,
which serves as an admirable protection and
substitute for wax, oils, gums, etc. Eggs
thus coated and stored in charcoal powder,
or mixture of charcoal and bran, would
keep very long time.
In storing eggs in charcoal the latter
should be fresh and perfectly dry. If the
eggs are not stored when perfectly fresh
they will not keep under any circumstances.
A broken egg stored with sound ones will
sometimes endanger the whole lot. In
packing, the small end of the egg should be
placed downward; if in charcoal or other
powder, they must be packed so that the
shell of one egg does not touch shat of
another, the interspaces being filled with
the powder. Under all circumstances,
stored eggs should be kept in as cool place
as possible. Frequent change of tempera-
ture must also be Notwithstanding Amer
lean.