Preserving eggs with calcium hydroxide

Alisa Felix - June 4, 2020

Advice

Has anyone tried using calcium hydroxide to preserve eggs? It has a bunch of other names like slaked lime, but you basically combine it with water and then jar it. And the eggs can last a couple years with no funky taste.

But based on what I’ve been reading, it won’t work on eggs you get from the store. It has to be eggs that haven’t been washed yet… something about the natural coating still needs to be there? So if you have chickens or know someone with some, it could be an easy way to store them long term.

I haven’t done it yet but just wanted to throw it out there in case someone else has. Or maybe it doesn’t work at all?

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That sounds like a science experiment haha but I’m curious if it would work. 2 years is a long time to keep eggs for. I’ve pickled a few times but you’re supposed to eat them in a few months. I’d be curious to cook one up after a few years.

 

That’s interesting. So you preserve them fresh, or do they need to be cooked?

 

My understanding is fresh.

 

I looked up the chemical. Did you know it’s also called Portlandite? I don’t know the city well enough to know if that’s a dig at them or not 🙂

But the stuff sounds versatile. For me, the problem would be getting a supply of eggs that haven’t been washed or prepped for sale. Because then you could buy a mountain of the cheap ones at the store and jar them all. I don’t have any friends with chickens.

 

Hi Alisa, Yes it works if you use eggs from which the natural “bloom” has not been washed off.  You might want to watch the excellent YouTube videos Carolyn Thomas from the “Homesteading Family” channel posted on how to store fresh eggs by “water glassing” them in a slaked lime a/k/a hydrated lime and water solution.  Her first video in that series is called “Water Glassing Eggs:  Preserve Your Eggs for Winter!”.  She also did follow-up videos showing how well the water glassed eggs held up 8 and then 12 months later.

Zabeth

 

Thank you! Yes, I was able to make it work. Never thought I would be saving eggs, but it’s a nice thing to have in my backpocket. And I’ll check out Carolyn’s videos too. I seem to have a bit more time for Youtube now 

 

Hi Alisa,

You’re very welcome.  I’m glad the method worked for you 🙂  Hopefully you’ll enjoy Carolyn’s videos.  I liked them a lot.  She’s great at explaining the steps very clearly.

Zabeth