PRESERVING, TESTING, AND PACK ING EGGS Preservation of Eggs.—More hens' eggs are laid during the months of March, April, May, and June than during the other 8 months of the year. Hence the bulk of the con sumption of eggs during the fall and winter months is of eggs that are not fresh laid. The commercial method of preserving eggs is by means of cold storage in vaults kept at a tem perature of 40° F. or less. Eggs are collected all over the United States and stored in the largest cities, whence they are distributed at whole sale and often times sold in the win ter months to farmers and others who keep hens, but who are not, at that season, getting enough eggs for their own consumption. The whole sale market recognizes seventeen grades of eggs according to their size, weight, and freshness and the locali ties from which they come. But the ordinary buyer of eggs is unable to distinguish among them, and often gets a very much cheaper grade of cold-storage egg than she pays for. Hence on all grounds, it is much better and cheaper for those who keep chickens to preserve, in the sea son when eggs are plentiful, all that are not required for immediate use. If care is taken, eggs if perfectly fresh when preserved will be nearly, if not quite equal to new. But at all events, home-stored eggs, if prop erly preserved, will be superior to cold-storage ones, which are often far from fresh when gathered and placed in storage.
Testing Eggs.—Eggshells are por ous or perforated right through by minute holes for the admission of air ne,eded by the chick for breathing.
Hence in time a part of the liquid contents of the egg evaporates. The white and yolk shrink and the result ing emptied space is filled with air. This space is normally at the broad end. And this is the reason why, in storing eggs, the point should always be downward. To test eggs take a candle or electric light or lamp in an otherwise dark room and fit it with a candling chimney, which may be ob tained at any poultry store or may be readily made from a piece of card board. This is merely a cylinder of cardboard large enough to surround the candle or the lamp chimney, and having a tube inserted at right angles somewhat smaller in diameter than an ordinary egg, and about the level of the flame. Through this the egg can be observed against the light.
To test eggs, hold each one up against the opening of this cylinder, broad end upward, and look through them at the light. If the contents do
not fill the shell, the egg is not per fectly fresh, and the larger the air space the older is the egg. The yolk should be perfectly clear and round in outline. If, besides the air space, there is ,a dark haze or cloud in the egg, it has become spoiled. If the cloud contains a black spot, the egg is bad. All storage eggs show some shrinkage, and eggs shipped by freight from distant points to a wholesale market, will shrink on the way even if not afterwards preserved in cold storage.
Methods of Preserving Eggs.—The object to be secured in preserving eggs is to prevent the evaporation of their contents, and thus prevent the air coming in to fill the space. This may be accomplished by any method of filling the pores of the shell so as to effectually prevent the passage of air. Among the substances recom mended for this purpose are mucilage made of gum arabic or gum traga canth dissolved in water; albumen, or the white of egg; collodion, linseed oil, paraffin; shellac, or other varnish; saltpeter, lard, sugar sirup; finely powdered gypsum, or plaster of Paris, dry salt, and various solutions, as lime, soda, saltpeter, salt, etc., in water.
As the object of all these methods is the same, it becomes merely a ques tion of selecting whatever substance is most readily obtainable and what ever method is most convenient under the circumstances. Hence to preserve eggs, dissolve with gentle heat 1 ounce of gum arabic or gum traga canth in 1 pint of water, and if too thick, thin wall boiling water to the consistency of common mucilage. Re move the mucilage from the fire, al low it to cool and apply it with a soft brush. Have at hand large sheets of blotting paper or a bed of dry sand on which to rest the eggs while the mucilage is drying. If laid on wood or any other hard substance, the mucilage will cause them to stick and they cannot be removed without chip ping the shell. After laying down the eggs take care to cover the fm ger marks where the egg was held. When dry, pack, with the small ends down, in pails, tubs, or cases in dry bran, meal, or flour. Do not use salt with gum arabic or tragacanth. as, by attracting moisture, it may cause them to dissolve. If a little of the blotting paper or sand adheres to the egg it will do no harm. When the eggs are required for use, the muci lage can be removed with cold water, taking any foreign substances with it.