Every Step in Canning Part 30

With a plentiful supply of good home-cured and home-smoked meats, together with several varieties of sausages, you can feel you are well equipped to feed your family with its share of meat. Everything will have been utilized, nothing will have been wasted. You produced your own meat, you slaughtered and cured and smoked it and put all tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs and other "left-overs" into appetizing food for your family and you have saved money. You have utilized things at hand and required no transportation facilities. And best of all, you have the very finest in the land for your family and that gives one a perfectly justifiable pride in the work accomplished.

CHAPTER XVII

PRESERVED OR "CANNED" EGGS

As one-half of the yearly egg crop is produced in March, April, May and June consumers would do well to store enough at that time to use when production is light. Fifty dozen eggs should be stored for a family of five to use during the months of October, November, December and January, at which time the market price of eggs is at the highest.

When canning them _the eggs must be fresh_, preferably not more than two or three days old. This is the reason why it is much more satisfactory to put away eggs produced in one's own chicken yard or one's neighbor's.

Infertile eggs are best if they can be obtained--so, after the hatching exclude the roosters from the flock and kill them for table use as needed.

_The sh.e.l.ls must be clean._ Washing an egg with a soiled sh.e.l.l lessens its keeping quality. The protective gelatinous covering over the sh.e.l.l is removed by water and when this is gone the egg spoils more rapidly.

Use the soiled eggs for immediate use and the clean ones for storage.

_The sh.e.l.ls also must be free from even the tiniest crack._ One cracked egg will spoil a large number of sound eggs when packed in water gla.s.s.

Earthenware crocks are good containers. _The crocks must be clean and sound._ Scald them and let them cool completely before use. A crock holding six gallons will accommodate eighteen dozen eggs and about twenty-two pints of solution. Too large crocks are not desirable, since they increase the liability of breaking some of the eggs, and spoiling the entire batch.

It must be remembered that the eggs on the bottom crack first and that those in the bottom of the crock are the last to be removed for use.

Eggs can be put up in smaller crocks and the eggs put in the crock first should be used first in the household.

METHOD OF STORING

There are many satisfactory methods of storing eggs. The commercial method is that of cold storage and if it were not for this method winter eggs would be beyond the average purse.

The fact that eggs have been held in cold storage does not necessarily mean that they are of low quality. Carefully handled cold-storage eggs often are of better quality than fresh local eggs that have been improperly cared for.

In the home they may be packed by several methods: Salt, oats or bran; covering them with vaseline, b.u.t.ter, lard, paraffin or prepared ointments; immersion in brine, salicylic acid, water gla.s.s (sodium silicate) or limewater.

Any of these methods will keep the eggs for short periods if stored in a cool place. The salt, oats and bran are very satisfactory. The ointments also are satisfactory. The water gla.s.s and limewater will keep eggs without loss for a year. However, it is not wise to put down more eggs than is necessary to tide over the period of high price.

WATER GLa.s.s METHOD

"Water gla.s.s" is known to the chemist as sodium silicate. It can be purchased by the quart from druggists or poultry supply men. It is a pale yellow, odorless, sirupy liquid. It is diluted in the proportion of one part of silicate to nine parts of distilled water, rain water, or other water. _In any case, the water should be boiled and then allowed to cool._ Half fill the vessel with this solution and place the eggs in it, being careful not to crack them. The eggs can be added a few at a time until the container is filled. Be sure to keep about two inches of water gla.s.s above the eggs. Cover the crock to prevent evaporation and place it in the coolest place available from which the crock will not have to be moved. Wax paper covered over and tied around the top of the crock can be used. Inspect the crock from time to time and replace any water that has evaporated with cool boiled water.

LIMEWATER METHOD

Limewater is also satisfactory for preserving eggs and is slightly less expensive than water gla.s.s. A solution is made by placing two or three pounds of unslaked lime in five gallons of water, which has been boiled and allowed to cool, and allowing the mixture to stand until the lime settles and the liquid is clear. The eggs should be placed in a clean earthenware jar or other suitable vessel and covered to a depth of two inches with the liquid. Remove the eggs as desired, rinse in clean, cold water and use immediately.

If using the limewater method add a little of the lime sediment to insure a constantly saturated solution. If a thin white crust appears on the limewater solution it is due to the formation of calcium carbonate coming in contact with the air and consequently does no harm.

CANDLING EGGS AT HOME

If you purchase the eggs that are to be stored it is safer to candle them. Examining eggs to determine their quality is called "candling."

Every one knows that some eggs are better than others, but the ease with which the good ones can be picked out is not generally understood. The better the quality of eggs, the surer the housewife can be that they will keep satisfactorily.

HOMEMADE CANDLER

The equipment for candling usually consists of either a wooden, a metal, or a cardboard box and a kerosene lamp or an electric light. A very inexpensive egg candler for home use can be made from a large shoe-box or similar cardboard box. Remove the ends of the box, and cut a hole about the size of a half-dollar in one side. Slip the box over the lamp or electric bulb, darken the room, hold the egg, with the large end up, before the opening in the box and its quality can easily be judged.

SIGNS OF A GOOD EGG

When held before the opening of the candle, good eggs will look clear and firm. The air cell (the white spot at the large end of the eggs) should be small, not larger than a dime, and the yolk may be dimly seen in the center of the egg. A large air cell and a dark, freely moving yolk indicate that the egg is stale.

If the sh.e.l.l contents appear black or very dark, the egg is absolutely unfit for food. If you are in doubt about the quality of any eggs you are candling break a few of them into a dish and examine them. This is an excellent way to learn to know how good and bad eggs look when they are being candled.

Discard all eggs that have shrunken, loose contents, a watery appearance, cracked and thin sh.e.l.ls. Eggs of this description will not keep and are apt to spoil the eggs close around them. Any egg that floats in the solution should be discarded.

When packing eggs whether in salt, oats, or in solution place them with small end down. When packing them in salt, oats, etc., do not allow any two eggs to touch.

PACKING THE EGGS

One gallon of water gla.s.s as purchased will make enough preservative to preserve from 75 to 100 dozen eggs.

Three gallons of either water gla.s.s solution or limewater solution will preserve from 200 to 240 dozen eggs according to the size of the eggs and the shape of the container.

The cost of preserving eggs by the water gla.s.s method is about one cent per dozen eggs, not considering the cost of the container. The lime water method is still cheaper.

The following gives the sizes of jars with approximate capacity for eggs and the amount of water gla.s.s solution required to cover the eggs:

1 gallon jar--40 eggs, 3 pints of solution or 1 qt.

2 gallon jar--80 eggs, 8 pints of solution or 2 quarts.

3 gallon jar--120 eggs, 11 pints of solution or 5 quarts.

4 gallon jar--160 eggs, 14 pints of solution or 7 quarts.

5 gallon jar--200 eggs, 18 pints of solution or 9 quarts.

6 gallon jar--216 eggs, 22 pints of solution or 11 quarts.

10 gallon jar--400 eggs, 36 pints of solution or 18 quarts.

HOW TO USE PRESERVED EGGS

When the eggs are to be used, remove them as desired, rinse in clean, cold water, and use immediately.