The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-10-23
EGG JUDGING A BUSINESS.
Task of Discriminating Between
Good and Bad Albuminoids.

(Chicago News.)
Chicago has many queer industries
incident to a crowded population, and
one of them is tucked away on the
fourth floor of a South Water street
building This industry consists of the
chemical changing of the yolks of ques-
tionable eggs into product used in
tanning fine leather. A high price is
commanded by this product, which was
at one time exported to France for
use in tanning skins for kid gloves, but
it now finds a market in the United
States.
The firm that pursues the industry of
changing the yolks of ostracised eggs
has metal-lined boxes beside every egg
Gambler in South Water street, who
losses therein eggs unfit for eating pur-
poses. These boxes are collected by
the firm and the eggs broken open by
employees The yolks of eggs not stale
to the extent of mixture are separated
and treated chemically. The rest are
destroyed
Egg Gambling is decidedly a delicate
science and the GAMBLER who, Oh South
Water street, is given the degree of
doctor of discrimination, has anything
but an easy calling. He must be able
/ to judge the various stages of an al
buminoid's age, for each stage puts the
subject Of diagnosis into a distinct
class. Eggs that are cracked or barely
disable are laid aside by the GAMBLER
and later are divided into two parts
the white and the yoIk. The whites
Of these eggs are usually canned and
frozen fer use by bakers while the
yolks are used as a tanning product
The office of the egg Gambler is a small,
darkened room, where he stands during
business hours juggling handfuls of
breakables before brilliant light
RI II 4
into these he drops the various stale
eggs according to their degrees of age.
There is case No. l, which contains the
best degrees; case No. g for watery or
dried eggs that sell at 13 cents a dozen;
case No. 3, for spotted, cracked or other
deforn1ed specimens, and lastly, case
No. 4, for the genuine bad egg.
Last week was a busy one for the
egg Gamblers. They had an unusually
heavy supply to dispose of. and con-
sequently put in long hours. One of the
tSouth Water street gamblers, who is
considered the best in his line, had so
much work on hand that he was obliged
to hire an assistant.
How am l able to discriminate so
finely?" he answered in reply to
query. well, it would be a hard thing
TO explain. 1t just naturally comes to
me, that's all. Ours is a unique call
ing, requiring man who has a natural
instinct of discrimination, just as the
wine sampler has.
Now, this egg here" he continued,
picking uD one Of the subjects for his
judgment, is watery. You can see the
water and bubbles in it, That egg has
been chilled in an atmosphere of rs or
q degrees
This one" holding up another, ''is
shrunken and dried by heat and age.
And then here is another egg with
moldy spots inside the shell-contact
with the wet. When the powder ON
fresh egg is washed off, it's keeping
qualities are injured. Here is an egg
with the yolk stuck to the side of the
she1l-probably laid still in one place
for a long time The yolk has de-
cayed slightly at the point Of contact
with the shell, but the rest can be used
and will go to the baker.
"A good many of these eggs are
nearly gone, but can be of service if
used right away. They go into the.
class that sells at cents a dozen.
Others are stale and are second-grad-
ers. You can tell a stale egg because
the yolk gets close to the Shell, or
is sluggish or the egg: is off-cclor"