OK, a year ago I put some of my chicken eggs in a crock in sodium silicate "Water Glass".
Forgot about them to do a 6-month check, which is how long the Mother Earth News said they'd keep in an article a long time ago...
So, having kept them in the house at 65 - 72 degrees for 1 year, Here it is:
And here are the undisturbed eggs, found they rose/elevated a bit with time!
At first I thought that the NaSilicate just dehydrated & therefore the eggs were more exposed (some were initially submerged, some were coated & left half-submerged). Then I found that the eggs were actually trying to float, since when I dug around in there, none were on the bottom of the crock.
Sticking my nose in there, no bad odors, but a faint, slightly sweet smell (guessing it's the Na silicate?)
OK, so now I know why it's nicknamed "water glass"... the top layer did become hard & you could hit it with your knife to fracture it. Broke a couple of eggshells trying to loosen a few out!
By the way, the green-shelled eggs' color faded out. The insides of the shell, however, remained green & this can be seen in subsequent pix. Only brown and green shelled eggs were placed in the crock.
Beneath the dry, tough glassy crust it had thickened somewhat to a gel:
xx
The eggs were no longer "thick" in either the whites or the yolks, like the fresh one in the upper bowl. Pretty thin/runny. The old yolks were fragile, easily broken. The fresh egg from this week is in the top bowl.
You can see the insides of the eggshells are greener than the outside here.
It also seemed as if some of the "yellow' had seeped across the yolk's membrane/sac into the "whites". Note NO rotten egg odors... If you smelled them up-close, though, the stored eggs did smell slightly of ~animal (go smell your dry dog's fur). NOT wet dog, but dry dog. More on that later.
Next was the frying pan test. Again, the fresh egg at the top:
xx
Add a little fresh ground pepper & salt and voila'
xx
OK, now the taste test...
The slight animal odor was present in the yellows, but not really the whites.
Not really a tastable thing, but just a slight smellable thing.
Tasted fine...
SO: What I conclude is-- this is a valid method of storing eggs, but I probably wouldn't use the yolks unless you are using them in a recipe with other ingredients or strong flavors (like brownies or quiche). At one year, just use the whites otherwise.
I'll let you know if I get sick
The dogs sure liked them just fine.
No, I didn't eat any undercooked eggs. Never do.
Forgot about them to do a 6-month check, which is how long the Mother Earth News said they'd keep in an article a long time ago...
So, having kept them in the house at 65 - 72 degrees for 1 year, Here it is:
And here are the undisturbed eggs, found they rose/elevated a bit with time!
At first I thought that the NaSilicate just dehydrated & therefore the eggs were more exposed (some were initially submerged, some were coated & left half-submerged). Then I found that the eggs were actually trying to float, since when I dug around in there, none were on the bottom of the crock.
Sticking my nose in there, no bad odors, but a faint, slightly sweet smell (guessing it's the Na silicate?)
OK, so now I know why it's nicknamed "water glass"... the top layer did become hard & you could hit it with your knife to fracture it. Broke a couple of eggshells trying to loosen a few out!
By the way, the green-shelled eggs' color faded out. The insides of the shell, however, remained green & this can be seen in subsequent pix. Only brown and green shelled eggs were placed in the crock.
Beneath the dry, tough glassy crust it had thickened somewhat to a gel:
xx
The eggs were no longer "thick" in either the whites or the yolks, like the fresh one in the upper bowl. Pretty thin/runny. The old yolks were fragile, easily broken. The fresh egg from this week is in the top bowl.
You can see the insides of the eggshells are greener than the outside here.
It also seemed as if some of the "yellow' had seeped across the yolk's membrane/sac into the "whites". Note NO rotten egg odors... If you smelled them up-close, though, the stored eggs did smell slightly of ~animal (go smell your dry dog's fur). NOT wet dog, but dry dog. More on that later.
Next was the frying pan test. Again, the fresh egg at the top:
xx
Add a little fresh ground pepper & salt and voila'
xx
OK, now the taste test...
The slight animal odor was present in the yellows, but not really the whites.
Not really a tastable thing, but just a slight smellable thing.
Tasted fine...
SO: What I conclude is-- this is a valid method of storing eggs, but I probably wouldn't use the yolks unless you are using them in a recipe with other ingredients or strong flavors (like brownies or quiche). At one year, just use the whites otherwise.
I'll let you know if I get sick
The dogs sure liked them just fine.
No, I didn't eat any undercooked eggs. Never do.
... 
