Preservation of Eggs
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Put a layer of common salt or bran one inch deep in a wooden pail or washtub.
Pack the eggs
Grease the eggs with paraffin or oil and place them small end down, ensuring they do not touch the bottom.
Cover the eggs with enough salt to create a one-inch layer on top.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Common salt or bran
- Draws moisture out of the eggs and surrounds them, slowing spoilage during preservation.
- Paraffin or oil
- Coats the shell to seal its pores, reducing moisture loss and entry of spoilage microbes.
- Eggs
- The food being preserved; the salt and coating protect the shell and contents.
The step that matters
Greasing the eggs. An even coat of paraffin or oil seals the shell's pores. Gaps in the coating leave openings where air and microbes can enter, so the eggs may spoil.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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