Egg Preservation

How are your eggs? Are they fresh? Have you checked the expiration date on the egg carton lately? In days gone by, eggs were said to be kept absolutely fresh for an unknown amount of time by means of a gaseous solution was discovered in France. The method was simple, place 1,000 eggs in an autoclave, what we know as a pressurized tank, withdraw all the air out of the autoclave. Once the air is drawn out, the eggs begin to release the gas within the shells. This too is drawn out of the autoclave. Once all the air and gas from the egg shells have been drawn out, carbonic acid and nitrogen is then introduced to the eggs inside the autoclave. These gases in liquid form kills any and all germs of decay, remarkably preserving 1,000 eggs at a time. The flavor of the eggs are said to remain in tact.

Before the use of refrigerators the average homeowner preserved their eggs in jars. It was said the best time to preserve eggs was between July and September. One way they preserved eggs was by adding lime and salt to a gallon of boiling water. After the solutions thickens and is cooled, the solution's top layer was then poured over eggs and then placed in a jar. Another manner of preserving was packing them in a jar with layers of salt between the large end of the egg downward, with a thick layer of salt at the top. I imagine salt was used to keep moisture out. Yet another method was placing a layer of butter or lard over the entire eggshell and packing them in bran or sawdust. This was an interesting method, seeing they smothered the eggs leaving no room for oxygen. Lastly, another form used to preserve eggs of that era was boiling them for half a minute. The last method of preserving eggs would limit the use of the egg or lessen the quality of a "scrambled egg."

Today, eggs have expiration dates. Those who remember when egg cartons did not have an expiration date, ignore the dated cartons. They are convinced that today's refrigerators are pretty good at preserving eggs. However, in recent years, reports of bad bacteria in eggs that sat for an undetermined amount of time led to heeding the expiration dated cartons. So unless you have the gadget discovered in France that preserves eggs indefinitely, sticking to expiration dates on egg cartons is the safest bet.