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From: The Every-Day Cook-Book and Encyclopedia of Practical Recipes,
For Family Use - Miss E. Neill - nd (circa 1890) TO TELL GOOD
EGGS
Put them in water–if the large end turns up,
they are not fresh. This is an infallible rule to distinguish a good egg
from a bad one.
KEEPING EGGS FRESH
"All it is necessary to do to keep eggs through summer is to procure
small, clean wooden or tin vessels, holding from ten to twenty gallons,
and a barrel, more or less, of common, fine-ground land plaster. Begin by
putting on the bottom of the vessel two or three inches of plaster, and
then, having fresh eggs, with the yolks unbroken, set them up, small end
down, close to each other, but not crowding, and make the first layer.
Then add more plaster and enough so the eggs will stand upright, and set
up the second layer; then another deposit of plaster, followed by a layer
of eggs, till the vessel is full, and finish by covering the top layer
with plaster. Eggs so packed and subjected to a temperature of at least 85
degrees, if not 90 degrees, during August and September, came out fresh,
and if one could be certain of not having a temperature of more than 75
degrees to contend with, I am confident eggs could be kept by these means
all the year round. Observe that the eggs must be fresh laid, the yolks
unbroken, the packing done in small vessels, and with clean, fine-ground
land plaster, and care must be taken that no egg so presses on another as
to break the shell."
Eggs may be kept good for a year in the following
manner:
To a pail of water, put of unslacked lime and coarse
salt each a pint; keep it in a cellar, or cool place, and put the eggs in,
as fresh laid as possible.
It is well to keep a stone pot of this lime water ready
to receive the eggs as soon as laid; make a fresh supply every few months.
This lime water is of exactly the proper strength; strong lime water will
cook the eggs. Very strong lime water will eat the shell. |
