Water Glass Eggs | How to Preserve Your Fresh Eggs for Long-Term Storage
This is how to water glass eggs for food preservation. I will discuss why you should be water glassing your home-grown eggs and just how to do it to stock your pantry for the colder months.
Burden of abundance
During the spring and summer months, most chicken owners know what the burden of abundance of eggs is. Some chicken keepers may choose to sell their over stock of eggs while others may choose to preserve them for the winter months.
Egg preservation methods
There is more than one way to preserve your farm fresh eggs, however, water glassing is the only way I’m aware of that keeps your eggs intact and basically farm fresh for 1 or more years. With water glassing, you’re able to crack an egg and use as you normally would any egg.
Other ways to consider preserving your eggs for the “off season” is by freeze drying, freezing into ice cube trays and even dehydrating. These other ways of preserving typically don’t keep the same texture as water glassing. However, I have heard that freeze drying works very well once reconstituted. It is a very expensive piece of equipment so most may not have access to a freeze dryer.
Winter months
If this is your first year raising chickens, you may be unaware that hens typically don’t lay eggs in the winter months or when they’re molting. Some hens will molt right before winter and stop laying eggs as well. Making the time without getting eggs even longer.
Chickens require longer days (light) to lay eggs. Some chicken keepers will put artificial light in their coops to mimic this effect, but that is a controversial topic.
Farm fresh eggs
Eggs are porous, meaning they have a lot of little pores all over the shell, and can soak in water and chemicals from the outside just as our skin can. The shell has a thin outermost coating called the bloom or cuticle that helps keep out bacteria and dust. An unwashed egg will have the bloom still intact. Once an egg has been washed, the bloom is washed away with it.
In order to water glass your eggs, they must be unwashed and clean. The bloom must be intact for water glassing to be safe and effective. For this reason, you cannot use store bought eggs for water glassing. Store bought eggs have already been cleaned and the bloom would no longer be intact. If you attempted to water glass store bought, or any egg without it’s bloom intact, the lime would seep into the egg.
Is water glassing eggs safe?
Yes, it has been utilized as a food preservation method for many years now. As long as the eggs have continuously been submerged, unwashed, in the lime solution and there are no cracks in the shell, they are safe to consume.
You should always thoroughly wash your eggs prior to using them as to not ingest any of the pickling lime water as that is not recommended.
Materials needed
Large airtight container, such as a 2–5-gallon bucket or a one-gallon jar. The containers I’m using in the video below are a 2 gallon bucket with a gamma seal lid, and a one-gallon glass jar.
Pickling lime. This is available at places like Azure or even Amazon.
Kitchen scale to measure out the pickling lime accurately.
Farm fresh, unwashed eggs. These can be collected over several days or added to the solution daily as you go.
Water. Needs to be chlorine-free and fluoride-free. If you have good well water, this should work perfectly fine, but if you live where fluoride and chlorine are an additive, you should boil your water. You can also buy distilled or natural spring water from the store to be safe or not have to boil your water and let it cool beforehand.
Instructions
1.Select your large airtight container.
2.Based upon the size of the container, you will need to measure out 1 oz of pickling lime per 1 quart of water you will be using.
3. Mix water and pickling lime into the airtight container.
4. Select your cleanest unwashed farm fresh eggs and submerge them gently into the solution until you have filled the container.
5. Close and label your container.
6. Use within 1-2 years of date on container.
Water Glass Eggs
A simple and timeless way to preserve your farm fresh eggs for the winter months.
Ingredients
- pickling lime
- water (chlorine and flouride-free)
- clean farm fresh unwashed eggs
- large airtight container
- kitchen scale
Instructions
- Select your large airtight container.
- Based upon the size of the container, you will need to measure out 1 oz of pickling lime per 1 quart of water you will be using.
- Mix water and pickling lime into the airtight container.
- Select your cleanest unwashed farm fresh eggs and submerge them gently into the solution until you have filled the container.
- Close and label your container.
- Use within 2 years of date on container.
Notes
*Remember that as you add eggs into the solution, the water level will rise. In order to prevent overflow, I suggest you only partially fill your container, about half way, to start until you have learned exactly just how much you'll need.
*Water needs to be chlorine-free and fluoride-free. If you have good well water, this should work perfectly fine, but if you live where fluoride and chlorine are an additive, you should boil your water. You can also buy distilled or natural spring water from the store to be safe or not have to boil your water and let it cool beforehand.
Water glassing eggs tutorial
See this quick video tutorial I did over summer of 2023. It shows what I use to water glass eggs and just how simple it is to store them.
How do you use water glassed eggs?
When you are ready to use your water glassed eggs, remove them from the container (what you need) and wash them thoroughly to remove the lingering lime water. Remember that ingesting lime is not recommended.
Once they are clean, you are free to use them as you would any farm fresh egg.
The one exception is if you are to boil them (such as for hard boiled eggs). You will want to poke a tiny hole in the shell, so they do not explode because the lime sealed up the eggs pours.
If you’re not a chicken keeper…
No chickens in your backyard to get eggs from? That should not stop you from water glassing eggs. I’m sure there are local farmers and chicken keepers who would be more than happy to sell you some clean unwashed eggs.
When contacting someone to buy farm fresh eggs, make sure and say you want them specifically to water glass and that you would not want them washed. Not all farmers wash their eggs, but most will unless asked otherwise.
Leave me a comment!
Have you water glassed eggs before? Will you try and do this technique to prevent having to buy eggs over the winter?
I do not have backyard chickens but I do plan on getting 4 this year, thats the max im allowed 🥺. I highly doubt Ill ever have enough eggs to need preserving but if I ever do, you have just empowered me with some amazing knowledge! Thank you