The suburban citizen., 1900-07-14
EGG CANNING INDUSTRY
-ARcs EXPORT TRAoEIN PRESERVED
PRODUCT or THE BARNARD.

Wnen the warm weather OF spring
and summer come the hens all over
the country compete with each other
In laying eggs, and the receipts multi
ply so rapidly that the markets would
be completely overwhelmed in every
city if it were not for the cold storage
houses, which absorb a large proper.
tlOn of the surplus, says the New York
Times. Beginning early in April, the
receipts Of eggs In New York average
between 100000 and 100000 a day
right through the spring and summer,
and prices naturally drop rapidly. The
consumptive demand of the city aver
ages only something like 100000 eggs
per day, and the query is. What be-
comes of the other million or two?
If one should visit any of the huge
storage warehouses in hot weather he
would soon ascertain, for now is the
season when spectators are purchas-
ing eggs by the hundreds of thou
sands for future use Next winter,
when the hens are on strike because of
cold weather and refuse to lay more
go up rapidly, and the consumers will
have to pay something like thirty and
forty cents a dozen. 1t is when prices
have reached these outside figures that
the storage-house spectators expect
to unload their stock and sell them at
a material advance.
The average consumer of fresh eggs
may consider this an imposition, and
wonder If he is going to have served
up for his next Christmas dinner the
eggs that are laid here in May and
June. This is not exactly what he
may expect, but in a more indirect
way he will eat some of these summer
eggs next winter, and he will be per-
fectly satisfied that they are all right.
The eggs will not be served to him as
fresh country eggs, fried, poached or
boiled, as he orders, but they will be
deftly mixed with his cake, confec.
tionery and other fancy bakers stuff
so that he will never know the differ
ence.
When the cold-storage houses begin
to stock up with the eggs in summer
they have to buy in such enormous
quantities that there is naturally a
great loss in cracked and broken eggs.
In handling several million eggs a day
no amount of care could prevent break
age. Indeed, thousands Of them are
broken in transit to the city, and 9TH
ers are cracked in moving from the
railroad cars to the stores. If these
cracked and broken eggs were all
thrown away the annual loss would
easily mount up into the millions. TO
Offset these losses the storage houses
have invented all sorts of ways to
utilize the broken eggs. The most sue
cessful so far IS to can the broken
eggs and sell them to bakers and con-
fectioners.
Canned eggs keep just as well and
fully as long as canned meat, fruit or
vegetables. When put in cans that
are rendered absolutely air-tght there
is no chance of their decaying. 1t is
the air which enters through the shell
Of an egg that cause its meat to de-
cay. This is proved by the many
methods of preserving eggs. Fresh
eggs coated thoroughly with parafiine
and then stored away in lined water
will keep for months in a compara-
lively fresh condition, and their keep
ing powers will be in proportion to the
success in excluding the air. OF
course, a certain amout of air will
reach the eggs even in this condition,
and gradually they will show a decay
ing tendency, although eggs have been
preserved for six months and a year.
Before the eggs are canned, how
ever they are separated, and the
whites and yolks are put up in differ
ent cans. When the baker or confec-
toner wants to make white frothing
for his cake he opens a can of the
whites Of eggs, or If he wishes to make
custard for his pie or puddngs he
takes the canned yolks. Thus there is
no waste, and time and labor are saved
also.
In the middle of winter when eggs
are soaring away up in price, these
canned eggs make 1t possible for the
baker and confectioner to serve us
with cakes, pies, candies and creams
at the same price charged in summer.
Thus the storage warehouses which
have canned the eggs for us save the
consumers considerable in the winter,
and also tighten the labols of the bak-
ers and confectloners. They are fresh
and sweet when canned, and they do
not deteriorate in the least unless the
cans happen to be imperfect, in which
case they spoil the same as canned
fruit or vegetables.
In hot countries canned eggs arc
used quite extensively, and the stor-
age houses can considerable quantities
for export. In some years the cheap
eggs in the height of the laying season
are actually broken for canning. In
hot countries the canned eggs will
keep long time, especially il stored
away in cool places, and the people
can use them as needed. In many
tropical countrier fresh eggs are diff
cult to secure, and the natives often
prefer the canned northern eggs to the
so-called fresh eggs sold in the mar