What is the best way to freeze eggs?
What is the best way to freeze eggs?
It is looking like eggs are about to go up again and I have a lot of freezer space. There are many ways to do this but I am looking for portion control and convivence for 1 person. Is it better to scramble them or try to freeze as is?
So my question is how many eggs will you buy at today's price, and how high will the price have to go before you start dipping into your frozen eggs?
Microeggonomics
They keep a very long time in the fridge, especially if unwashed. No need to freeze them.
Eggs in America sold in stores are all washed.
If you are uncertain if an egg is good or not, you can see if they float. If they float, bad.
Eggs in America are all washed because production facilities are filthy and riddle with salmonella. Keep them refrigerated and pay attention to the use by date.
In Europe it is safe to use the do-they-float test. I don't know about anywhere else.
Definitely scrambled. If you freeze as-is, the yolks will gel and remain that way when thawed.
Your other option is water glassing rather than freezing, but that only works with fresh, unwashed egs (not store bought). Also be aware most recipes you will find on the internet are wrong! Proper waterglassing should use Sodium Silicate, not
limelye (Sodium Hydroxide).Edit: Corrected - see below. Also, be aware that "lye" in older recipes can refer to any basic (as opposed to acidic) solution, and was more commonly potassium hydroxide leached from wood ash rather than sodium hydroxide.
Sodium hydroxyde is lye, calcium hydroxide is lime. Not sure how that relates to water glassing, I’ve never heard of it.
Thank you - fixed!
Even more specifically, Calcium Hydroxide is "slaked lime" (also called "pickling" lime, as opposed to the even more caustic "unslaked lime" (Calcium Oxide)
You could get powdered eggs if you want something easy to store that you dont have to worry about for a longer time.
Please explain. How do you powder eggs?
You can dehydrate eggs. We've done it for for storing eggs for feed, not for human consumption. I believe that is done by freeze drying.
OvaEasy Dehydrated Egg Crystals – 4.5oz. (128g) Bag – Powdered Eggs Made From All-Natural Ingredients – Easy-To-Prepare Egg Powder – Dehydrated Food Perfect for Camping & Backpacking (6-pack of 4.5 oz. bags) https://a.co/d/8td0vt6
I believe it’s dehydrated, and these are fine for human consumption.
I wouldn't scramble them first. That introduces air bubbles which will act as an oxidizer, probably shortening the shelf life. I think cracking them into ice cube trays might be a viable option though it would probably be a messy job. It's easy enough to test.
Freezing as is does work.
You shouldn't unless you love eggs and eat multiple eggs for every meal or something, but freezing will work fine
I make everything I can from scratch and over 50% of my recipes call for eggs. I can't eat white flour, pasta or white rice because they all cause unmeasurable joint pain the next day. I have been enjoying baked goods made with all kinds of alternative flour and they all require eggs. During the recent spike my local store had (4) 36 pack crates of eggs for the regular price and I would have bought them all but I am sure the yolk texture is going to be an issue. I watched a u toob vid and the egg looked and cooked well but the the yolk had a square shape and was somewhat pudding like in texture.
I'd hard boil em and freeze that.
These would be used for baking so that one is out.
If you are using them for baking I'd be worried that freezing will screw with the protein structure and mess up the bake. Might be able to get away with it for basic cakes, but anything where you are relying on the egg protein for structure (meringue, genoise, buttercream, etc) then I'd expect trouble
If you have a vacuum bag sealer, you could make some custom bags that hold two eggs or more, crack the eggs into the bag (a wide-mouth funnel helps), vacuum out most of the air and seal them. Lay them flat during the initial freeze and they will store great!
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We've done this before. We also have an attachment that vacuum seals mason jars and we've put two eggs in a small jelly jar, vacuum sealed the lid, and thrown it into the deep freeze.
Would cracking them into ice pop / ice lolly / popsicle makers be a good method?
That is a good way to have them all freeze separated then bag them up 1 per bag me thinks.
That would be if you want the yolks to be intact for breakfast eggs.
I've brought eggs ice fishing/camping before and just thawed them out in the hut before cooking them. Not sure how they hold up to longer freezes but they seemed fine thawed.
Bury them in lye!
These tips are good, thank you everyone.
I experienced my first egg yolk gelling from being in the freezer for too long
OvaEasy Dehydrated Egg Crystals – 4.5oz. (128g) Bag – Powdered Eggs Made From All-Natural Ingredients – Easy-To-Prepare Egg Powder – Dehydrated Food Perfect for Camping & Backpacking (6-pack of 4.5 oz. bags) https://a.co/d/8td0vt6