Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-07-04
COLD STORAGE OF EGGS.
How They Are Tested and Kept Fresh
for Months at a Time.

lot MoQtnS at lime.
From the New York Tribune.
Cold storage Of eggs is one of the great
est conveniences Of modern times, giving
housewives eggs in abundance at a season
when there would otherwise be an egg fam
Inc, and enabling the produce merchant to
control the market the year round Be-
fore this was done there was no certainty
of obtaining fresh eggs except in spring and
early summer. and spectators were contin-
ually arising to "bull'' the market, a pro-
cess which often met with abject failure.
mo sooner was the market cornered than
hens all over the country began laying"
said an unfortunate speculator. 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, II not greater than. the
supply. 1t is estimated that every five
years the consumption of eggs doubles. and
only the success of cold storage keeps down
the prices. In cold storage houses eggs
may be kept for an indefinite time as fresh
as II they were just laid The secret of
success In this matter lies in careful sort
ing and packing Of the eggs in uniform
temperature.
An old picture In the Dresden gallery rep
| resents a Dutch housewife testing eggs"
and shows that the method in use today
was In vogue more than hundred years
| ago. except for the substitution of strong
electric light for the ancient oil lamp. The
interior of the egg is examined by the
glow of light which shines directly through
1t. If perfect ball of rosy red is found
| floating in clear liquid In a clean shell, the
| egg is fresh If there is a slight vacuum at
one end 1t Is fresh enough for ordinary use,
but not quite SO fresh an the first one.
Evaporation has set in, but for cakemak-
| ing and for many purposes this egg is
better than a 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 barn
| yard for months, while those that have not
| been properly stored will not bear can
ding" 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 of August eggs, like all other
| perishable products. spoil easily, and are
usually unfit for storage purposes by the
| time they are brought to market.
The first eggs to reach the great packing
| houses come from the far south. In March
| the middle states and those near by send
| in their eggs for storage. 1n>April and
May eggs from the north and the eastern
states reach market in great quantities.
Before the end of June there often a
| thousand carloads In market to be stored
| for the dull season when hens will not
lay
At these packing houses the temperature
| is kept at thirty degrees Fahrenheit by
| means of pipes through which brine cir
| culates exactly steam does in modern
| houses. The secret of storing eggs
| cessfully consists in keeping them at only
| two degrees below freezing point, in sur
roundings of spotless cleanliness, and in
sorting those that have begun to be stale
| from those that are strictly fresh.