The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-09-12
COLD STORAGE EGGS.
How They Are Tested and Kept
Fresh for Months at Time.

Cold storage OF eggs is one of the
greatest conveniences of modern times
giving housewives eggs in abundance
at a season when there would otherwise
be an egg famine, and enabling the pro-
duce merchant to control the market
the year round. Before this was done
there was no certainty of obtaining
fresh eggs except in spring and early
summer. and sDeculators were c0ntinu-
ally arising to bull the market,
process which often met with abiect
failure No sooner was the market
cornered than hens all over the coun-
try began laying" said an unfortunate
Spectator. And there was no possible
way of controlling the hens he added,
sadly. Today the prices of eggs are
definitely controlled by the cold storage
houses.
The demand seems to be always
equal to. if not greater than, the sup
ply. 1T is estimated that every five
years the consumption of eggs doubles.
keeps down the prices. In cold storage
houses eggs may be kept for an in
definite time as fresh as IL they were
just laid. The secret of success in this
matter lies in careful sorting and pack
ing of the eggs in a uniform tempera-
ture.
An old picture in the Dresden gallery
represents a Dutch housewife testing
eggs, and shows that the method in
use today was in vogue more than 100
years ago, except for the substitution
of strong electric light for the an
Gent oil lamp. The interior of the egg
is examined by the glow Of light which
shines directly through it. If a perfect
ball of rosy red is found noating in
clear LIQUID in clean shell. the egg is
fresh If there is a slight vacuum at
one end it is fresh enough for ordinary
use. but not quite so fresh as the first
one. Evaporation has set in, but for
cake-making and for many purposes
this egg is better than perfectly fresh
one.
Finally when the egg has decomposed,
the yolk sticks to the shell: it is stale
and unfit for use, though it may not be
odorous. Eggs which this test shows
to be practically fresh laid may not
have been in the barnyard for months,
While those that have not been prop
erly stored will not bear Gambling"
though they have been laid only a few
weeks
The cold storage houses begin to
store eggs in the month of February
and stop storing after the month of
June until cold weather comes again.
In the hot, sultry weather of August
eggs. ike all other perishable products
spoil easily, and are usually unfit for
storage purposes by the time they are
reach the great packing houses come
from the far south. In March the mid
die states and those near by send in
their eggs for storage. In April and
way cSBS from the north and eastern
states reach the market in great guam
titles. Before the end of June there
are often thousand carloads in mar
ket to be stored for the dull season
when hens viii not law
AT these packing houses the temper
allure IS kept at 80 degrees Fahrenheit
by means OF pipes through which brine
circulates, exactly as steam does in
modern houses. The secret of storing
eggs successfully consists in keeping
them at only two degrees holoxx, f,oo1-
ing point. in surroundings of spotIess
cleanliness. and in sorting those that
have begaun to be stale from those that
are strictly fresh.-New York Tribune