By Angela Taylor-Godac
I am always amazed at the inventions of our ancestors in the fields of healing medications and foods, food storage, electricity that runs freely through our homes, combustion engines and so many other ways they devised of dealing with the necessities of every day life and making it useful and quite often, simple. How many brave souls perished or were maimed in the perfection of getting electricity to work safely and to just “flow” out of our walls and ceilings for our lights and electrical appliances? I can’t help but think the number is countless. And how many sufferings and deaths came about in the making of healing products and edible resources made from roots, flowers, tree barks, berries, etc.? Does anyone else think about such things? And then the scientific use of radio waves to communicate around the world, such as with HAM radios and such, so that there is no delay in conversations between Australian friends and ourselves. This just boggles my brain!!
That brings to mind a so simple yet highly-effective process of food storage that I have just recently put to the test and found, again, AMAZING!! We know that eggs are at times, recently, fluctuating in price greatly. What this is truly due to, I’m not so sure of but I have my suspicions. We’ve heard about the ”mysterious” and catastrophic explosions and fires, as well as the intended destruction of millions of chickens due to, so they say, Avian Flu exposure. I say, why can’t they come up with a quick vaccine like they did with Covid? Okay, okay, we won’t go there. I could get off on a whole other tangent there!!! Let’s just say that I’m not so impressed with the “invention” of that still-experimental, not fully-tested, rushed “cure”.
Back to the AMAZING topic…storing fresh eggs in your own pantry for up to 2 years!!! That’s right! In August of 2021 I put away close to 4 dozen eggs through a process called “Water Glassing”. And it works!! 18 months later I began eating these eggs and they are just fine. The only difference is that the yolk tends to be runnier and usually is broken when the eggs are cracked open so they won’t be good for a nice sunny-side-up fried egg but they are great for scrambled or baking purposes.
The attached recipe is what I followed. I couldn’t find a certain Lime in other recipes and then I happened on this one which calls for an easy-to-find lime that is used in making pickles. The picture is of my new batch that I just finished up and it is in my dark pantry now for the next many months, probably to be eaten this winter if my hens lay off producing like they did this past winter!!
I’m eggstatic about this and I say hats off and my utmost respect to the folks who came up with this and so many other wonderful inventions that can make our lives comfortable and give us independence, which is something that is looked down upon by those who would want us living in 15-minute cities!!! (And how many became terribly ill or died in perfecting this handy and proven method? Eggs can be so iffy!!!)
Just an added note: If you give this a try, check the eggs in your pantry 1x a month or so. If the solution appears cloudy you may have an egg that has cracked. This happened with a half-gallon jar I had used. I carefully emptied that jar of the eggs, washed them off, got rid of the culprit, and refrigerated the rest till I had consumed them all. They were just fine.
WATER GLASSED EGGS:
Ingredients—
1 ounce pickling lime
1 quart filtered water (Well water won’t need filtering. Town water can be filtered or left out for several hours on the counter to let “things” dissipate)
Fresh, clean, unwashed eggs (Eggs that have no poop or mud present. “Bloom” still intact)
Instructions—
Measure out 1 ounce of pickling lime on your kitchen scale. This measures out to just a tiny bit over 4 Tbsp.
Add the pickling lime to a clean half gallon jar and fill it up halfway with 1 qt. filtered water (or 2 ounces/8+ Tbsp lime per 2 quarts for a gallon jug as shown in picture).
Whisk the lime into water until it is fully incorporated. It will settle to the bottom as picture shows but it still will do the job.
Carefully add the eggs, pointy side it down.
Add an airtight lid to prevent oxygen from getting in, and prevent the water from evaporating.
Store the water glassed eggs 18 months to maybe 2 years in a cool dark place. Always be very gentle in moving the container.
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