How to Water-glass Eggs

How to Water Glass Eggs

Author: Carolyn Thomas

Preserving eggs by water glassing is a long-standing historical method that works wonderfully for long-term egg storage.

Equipment

5-gallon food-grade bucket

Ingredients

8 oz Hydrated Lime

8 quarts Filtered Water

Fresh Eggs

Instructions

Start off with a clean vessel to store your eggs. Depending on how many eggs you want to preserve will determine the size of your container. I’m starting with a 5-gallon food-grade bucket, but over the course of the summer, I’ll likely fill two or three of these buckets.

Next, add enough water to your container that your eggs will be completely submerged, but not so much that the water will overflow.

Measure out your water and lime. The ratio of water to lime is for every one quart of water you’ll use 1 ounce of lime. No matter what size container you’re using, this is the ratio to follow.

Add the lime to your clean water and whisk until completely dissolved. The water will look milky white.

Next, gently add your unwashed fresh eggs.

When you get to the point that you can start positioning eggs, be sure you’re putting the small side down (see video for reference).

When you’re ready to use your eggs, simply remove them as you need them, give them a good rinse off and use as normal.

Notes

The reason we point eggs down is that there’s an air pocket in each egg, so if you have it going toward the largest size, it’s not touching as much of the egg white and you’ll end up with a better quality egg.

The biggest concern with water glassing eggs is evaporation. You don’t want your lime water evaporating and exposing your eggs, especially if you’re storing them away in the basement where you might forget about them.

One way to keep evaporation from happening is to use a container with a lid. If your container doesn’t have a lid, you could add a layer of olive oil over the top of the water, then cover with a towel to keep any bugs or insects out.