I know isinglass is an old way of preserving raw whole eggs, and that it is a sort of gelatin made from fish eggs. I'm wondering about the pros and cons of doing this kind of thing for my food storage. First is it available anywhere(I can't find it), secondly is there a substitute for it(maybe some other type of gelatin), thirdly; is this a good thing to do or is it more trouble than it's worth considering the dried eggs available today that last so much longer. I am buying the dried eggs . I'm planning for Y2K and it would be nice to have some eggs in the shell for awhile.Thanks for any info.

-- Ramona Stafford (pittapals@afweb.com), November 20, 1999

Answers

It is "waterglass" that you want, isenglass is the little plastic looking windows in old wood stoves. Waterglass is the chemical compound, (Potassium Silicate)it use to be available from most drug stores or you might find it in a health food store. One coats the eggs unwashed that protects the natural coating. Now then i don't know how much waterglass you mix with water but someone is going to come along and tell us both in a few minutes. try askling around on www.backwoodshome.com again.

-- Bob Henderson (redgate@echoweb.net), November 20, 1999.

Hey Bob, did Duffy send you to this site? (:-) Just kidding.

Waterglass is SODIUM silicate, available in drugstores and building supply stores. Its usually in the form of a syrup that tastes like washing soda. (Im just reporting that: havent tried it myself.) A pure grade should be used to avoid off tastes in the eggs.

Mix one part waterglass with 10 parts water that has been boiled and cooled. Put fresh, clean (but unwashed) eggs in a crock or food-safe plastic container. Set them small end down as much as possible.

Pour the waterglass solution over them, to two inches above the top eggs. (More eggs and waterglass can be added later.) Cover tightly to prevent evaporation, and store in a cool place.

Eggs stored like this do have limitations. The whites lose their viscosity and cant be beaten stiff, the yolks break very easily, and the shells may become too thin for boiling. But speaking as an old Marine Corps cook, they do beat powdered eggs!

Another old-time method of preserving eggs was to coat them with lard (or, according to Countryside columnist Pat Katz, Vaseline.) Coat each egg completely, and wipe clean before use.

Drying eggs is another option (see Countryside for details) but freezing them is probably your best recourse (unless you expect y2k power outages.)

The best solution is to have your hens laying all winter. (See the post on winter lighting.) Countrysides editor

-- jd (belanger@midway.tds.net), November 23, 1999.

I did not like the comment about taste of the waterglass, my parents said that I was poisoned with this when I was 2.

-- Tom Calloway (Calfarm@msn.com), November 25, 1999.

Happy Hovel has a product called KE_PEG, they claim eggs with last for years with just spreading a thin coat over the eggs. I've only had mine for about six months and my omlet today was fine. They have a web site so you can try there

-- (sopal@net-port.com), November 29, 1999.