As we approach the Summer Solstice next week, homesteaders have been harvesting a lot of eggs if they have chickens, ducks, turkeys, and even quail. I know that for us, with only 17 hens currently, I can take in a baker’s dozen per day, most days. For us, we are nearly at 16 hours of daylight. The chickens are feeling great right now!
That adds up quickly, and I can be staring down at 12 dozen in the refrigerator (I prefer to store my unwashed eggs chilled, as always, do what works for you!). When it hits that half my refrigrator is egg cartons, it is time to process the eggs.
Are you even a homesteader if you don’t have a ton of eggs right now?
What we do in this season is to freeze-dry them for later use. In winter, when the light is just over 8 hours a day, we are fortunate to get 1-2 eggs a day (we don’t use lighting for our birds in winter, and let them rest). Being able to pull out mason jars full of bright yellow eggs? That is a huge deal. No need to go buy eggs, paying $5 to 10 a dozen for anything worth buying at the store.
They store well in both mason jars and mylar bags, tightly sealed.
The beauty of it is, you can work on this over days, as you have time and eggs. Liquid eggs go into the freezer to be frozen before they are freeze-dried.
Freeze-Drying Eggs:
Collect and wash the eggs in warm water. Let hangout on a kitchen towel to dry.
Crack each egg into a cup, then transfer to a blender. When the blender is about ¾ full, put the lid on and on low, process the eggs till they are fully mixed. You want the whites blended in fully.
To control the mess, I cover my counter with parchment paper.
Place a freeze-dryer tray in the freezer, and slowly pour the liquid eggs into it, till the tray is nearly full. Put a tray lid on carefully so there isn’t any spilling. Gently slide the freezer closed and remind everyone in the house not to bother the freezer for an hour or two. This ensures my kids don’t do their usual of ripping the door open quickly and jostling the still-liquid eggs.
Repeat until you run out of eggs. How many eggs it takes to fill the trays depends on your egg size and the size of your freeze-dryer (we have a Large Harvest Right). It took me about 6 dozen eggs. I had to do it in 2 batches over 2 days, as our freezer in the house, I can only stack 3 trays. Then I moved the trays down to the bottom and did the other 2 trays.
Once fully frozen, turn on the freeze-dryer for 15 to 30 minutes to get it ready (following the directions for your machine – essentially, the machines are now automatic on the cycles and sense when it is dry).
Insert the trays and let them process until they are fully dry. To check for being fully dry at the end of the automatic cycle, use a gloved finger in the center of a tray to ensure it is fully dry.
I had not tried drying the eggs directly on the trays, before I used silicone ice trays to freeze them in, and then placed the frozen cubes of eggs on the trays. The eggs pulled away nicely from the trays once freeze-dried. One less step, and I will continue to do it the tray way from now on. I got out a large stainless steel mixing bowl, and with gloves on, I knocked the eggs into the bowl (easy to do) and crumbled/powdered any chunks with my fingers.
Using a canning funnel, I loaded quart mason jars (6 of them) and 2 quart-sized mylar bags for the 5 trays, adding in 1 oxygen absorber packet and 1 desiccant packet. Being raw eggs, I take that part very carefully.
We then seal our jars and pouches in our Avid Armor Sealer (also see on Amazon).
Mark when you dried them and tuck them away for the long, cold, and dark days of winter. Store in a cool, dry place, preferably out of the sun, for the longest shelf-life.
To rehydrate:
Start with 2 Tablespoons dry egg powder and add 2 Tablespoons cool water; stir to blend, and let sit for a few minutes to hydrate. Add up to another Tablespoon of water (for a total of 3 tablespoons) to thin as needed. Use as you would fresh eggs for scrambling, egg washes and omelets, or in baked goods.
For More Information:
What freeze-dryer do we use? A Harvest Right Large. We are a family of 5, sometimes 6, and grow food, so it offers the size we need to preserve. If you are a smaller family, or live where you need the machine to be in the kitchen, a Small or Medium may be a better choice for you.
Want to read what else we have freeze-dried? All the posts.
~Sarah