SC - SC Eggs Question

[Laura C Minnick]

On Mon, 15 Mar 1999, Maryann Olson wrote:

> A friend and I were going through recipe books when we came across the
> following:
>         "In order to have enough eggs for winter use 
>         (hens lay more eggs during March, April, May
>         and June on the farm), and to take care of the 
>         deluge of eggs during the peak laying months,
>         Great-grandma preserved her own.  She might 
>         have used mucilage made of gum arabic or
>         gum tragacanth dissolved in water; albumen, 
>         or the white of egg; collodion, linseed oil, 
>         paraffin; shellac, or other varnish; 
>         saltpeter, lard, sugar syrup, finely 
>         powdered gypsum, or plaster of Paris, 
>         dry salt, and various solutions such as 
>         lime or soda, in water.  The eggs, after
>         having the solution brushed on, dried on a
>         bed of dry sand or blotting paper, were 
>         then packed, with the small ends down, in
>         pails, tubs, or cases in dry bran, meal, or
>         flour."      _Cooking with Honey_, page 150
> 
>         If anyone is interested, I will ask my friend 
>         for the author and other information.  It was 
>         her mother's cookbook, probably from the 1940's 
>         or so.  
> 
> Question:  Where would I look for more information on methods of keeping
> eggs before modern conveniences?  Can any of you shed more light on this
> subject for me?

I can't tell you of a period method storing eggs, but...
	
	Some fifteen years (and another lifetime ago) I worked as
Assistant Tour director for a small museum in Puyallup, Washington, called
the Meeker Mansion. We ran tours of the c.1890 house and did talks on Ezra
Meeker and why he was important, etc. This included going over the trip
west in the wagon from Iowa. In Ezra's autobiography, he praised his
little wife (all 4'9" of her) Eliza for her prudent managment of the food
for the trip, saying that her skill kept them alive. He mentions that she
packed her eggs in the center of the flour barrel, towards the bottom. It
was cool in there- if you've ever stuck you hand in a flour bin, you know
what I mean- and the flour kept the eggs relatively out of the air.
Howsomever, the eggs kept, the little family thrived. At least until they
got to the Puyallup valley, which is just as wet as Portland or Seattle,
and maybe more so. The cold and damp nearly killed them all with chronic
bronchitis and pneumonia that winter. I grew up there. I know what it's
like! :-)

'Lainie
- -
Laura C. Minnick
University of Oregon
Department of English
- -
"Libraries have been the death of many great men, particularly the
Bodleian."
	Humfrey Wanley, c. 1731




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