# Dehydrating eggs



## Beeorganic (Oct 11, 2011)

Problem: Too many eggs. Possible solution: Dehydrating.

I have an Excalibur dehydrator and want to try to scramble up the raw eggs and place them on a ParaFlexx sheet to dehydrate them, then vacuum pack for long term storage. Does anyone have any experience doing this? Heat settings, etc.. I've seen some video's online about it, but all have cooked the eggs first (the fat will make the eggs go bad quickly). Tammy at dehydrate2store.com (the expert) doesn't address this in any of her video clips.


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## whome (Oct 6, 2011)

I have found that eggs actually keep for a long time. After all, the eggs you buy at the grocery store are usually months old. But when I feel like I am accumulating too many, I either use them in baked goods and then freeze those or I make egg noodles out of them and dry them and then they keep quite well in jars. I do different sizes, some for chicken and noodles, some for soup.


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## preventDamage (Sep 16, 2011)

How can you have too many eggs. Just scramble them and eat them. Eggs are great for any meal.


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## whome (Oct 6, 2011)

preventDamage said:


> How can you have too many eggs. Just scramble them and eat them. Eggs are great for any meal.


Well, when you get two or three dozen a day, it adds up, trust me, you start doing the zucchini ploy, giving them to anyone that comes to house for a visit, leaving them on friends' porches. I did find that the hogs LOVE them


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## mdprepper (Jan 22, 2010)

Here are some older threads that deal with dehydrating and storing eggs:

http://www.preparedsociety.com/forum/f36/drying-tips-4927/

http://www.preparedsociety.com/forum/f36/preserving-eggs-6443/


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## Beeorganic (Oct 11, 2011)

Thanks mdprepper. Found the technique I was looking for in the top link.

The purpose of this "experiment" is for long term storage planning. My thinking is (in relationship to prepping and eggs)- I may have fresh eggs today; However, I may have to rely on dehydrated eggs tomorrow. Below is a cut and paste of copy of what I was basically looking for. Instead of just placing the results in a Baggie in the cupboards, I'd like to test the viability of dehydrating, vacuum sealing (with 02 packets inside), then inserting in and sealing inside a Mylar bag.

Quote:
EGGS, DEHYDRATED
Submitted Via. E-mail by Debi

Hi. You can also dehydrate eggs. I have for the past several years and they work just fine. Break eggs into a bowl or blender and blend whites and yolks together, like you would make scrambled eggs. (Do not add milk ) Pour onto a LIGHTLY greased dehydrator leather tray and dry at 145* for 4 hours then lower the temperature until the lethicin is dry and brittle. Return to blender and blend to granulate. Store in airtight container (vacuumed sealed bags, e.g.). To reconstitute: 1 TBSP egg powder to 2.5 TBSP water. Just add to recipe.
Quote:
I dehydrate eggs with a Mr. Coffee dehydrator. I do 6 at a time, and use the fruit roll sheet on the top tray. I beat the eggs as if I were going to make an omlette, then freeze them in a glass jar in the freezer overnight.
When I'm ready to dry them, I let them thaw, but not warm to room temp. Freezing seems to speed up the process a little. After about 18 hours of drying, they're dry and brittle. I powder them with an old coffee grinder, but a blender or food processor will work just as well. The egg powder goes into ziplock baggies, and in the cupboard.

I've used eggs that I've dehydrated this way for omlettes and cooking, with no problems. To rehydrate for use, I mix two measures of water for each measure of powder.

I have some eggs that were dehyrated over 5 years ago, and stored in the cupboard in a ziplock bag, that are still good to use.
Quote:
Carla Emery, in her book Encyclopedia of Country Living, tells of dehydrating eggs by this method: “Beat very fresh whole eggs thoroughly (use an egg beater or the equivalent). Pour beaten eggs to make a very thin layer (maximum 1/8") on drying surfaces that have been precoated with plastic or foil. In an oven or dryer, dry at about 120 degrees for 24-36 hours. When the egg layer is dry on top and firm all through, peel away the plastic or foil layer, turn the egg layer upside down and dry that side 12-24 hours more. Then break it up and dry it a few more hours. Then turn your dried egg into a powder using a mortar and pestle or a blender. These eggs work fine in baked goods. Make scrambled eggs by combining the powder with an equal amount of water, such as 1/4 c dried egg powder with 1/4 c. water.”


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## efbjr (Oct 20, 2008)

preventDamage said:


> How can you have too many eggs. Just scramble them and eat them. Eggs are great for any meal.


Hard-boil them and pickle them...should go great with home-brewed beer! :beercheer:


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## Immolatus (Feb 20, 2011)

I have seen vids of them being dried after being scrambled (cooked), am I understanding that the consensus is to not cook them first?


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

Immolatus said:


> I have seen vids of them being dried after being scrambled (cooked), am I understanding that the consensus is to not cook them first?


After being in a dehydrator at 145°F for over 24 hours(or higher depending on the dehydrator) I am gonna go out on a limb here and say that they are cooked, not just dry.

But a quick surf online has it split half and half down the middle on drying cooked or raw. Both are acceptable.


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## Ezmerelda (Oct 17, 2010)

efbjr said:


> Hard-boil them and pickle them...should go great with home-brewed beer! :beercheer:


I've been curious to try this - I can't bring myself to eat pickled eggs that you can buy at Sam's or somewhere, but I would love to pickle my own. I imagine that they would taste very good, and be very good for egg salad, and potato salad with eggs.

Anyone know a good recipe for pickled eggs? :scratch

Oh, look, I found one on the egg recipe thread...I should have read ahead! 

http://pharmacist.hubpages.com/hub/spicypickledeggs


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

My mother used to pickle them with the ring bologna or red hots... Just don't take a deep sniff when you open the jar.. you might change your mind.. But I like them.. just don't do it very often.


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

I have been dehydrating eggs for some time now, scrambled and raw. Scrambled eggs seem to do better at moderate heats-130 to 140, a draw back to cooked scrambled eggs is that they have a rubbery texture when rehydrated, and sometimes turn green from oxidation. The green doesn't mean the eggs are spoiled, it just means that they oxidized to some degree during the drying process.

I prefer to dry raw eggs, I have a Nesco Garden Master dehydrator and I pour the well mixed raw egg mixture onto the fruit lether trays and dehydrate at no higher than 115. Any higher and they probobly will cook to some degree. When rehydrated, they taste and handle like fresh eggs and can be used in baking or any other way fresh eggs are used.

I also dehydrate seperated whites and yolks, my goal was to make fresh mayonasse from dehydrated yolks. It worked but when drying the yolks the temperature must be 105-115, NO HIGHER or they will cook.


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## ReadyMom (Feb 25, 2011)

:scratch *Question:* If you dehydrate the eggs, and make the egg powder. What would be the remix amount of water & egg to = ONE egg, if I wanted to use it in a recipe for baking, etc? -k


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

I have found that 1 part egg powder to 3 1/2-4 parts water by weight works pretty well. 

Add the water and allow to set until rehydrated(about 10 minutes depending on how fine you make the powder) then hit it with a stick blender and go from there.


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## VUnder (Sep 1, 2011)

Pickled eggs are good. I have two gallons in the fridge now. We have chicken houses with 30,000 a day sometimes, so have learned many ways. Mix white vinegar half and half with water and bring to a boil and pour it over your boiled eggs. Now, when you use the large jars, they will crack, so here is the remedy. Fill your jar with the boiled eggs and put the jar in a large pot of water with the fire going under it. This will heat the jar so that when you pour your mix over the eggs, the jar won't bust. The eggs already being in the jar keeps it from floating. 

I cut up onions, peppers, spices, whatever you want is good. If you put all this together hot, when you screw the lid on, a vacuum seal occurs when it cools. That seems to pull the flavor in more. I also have used dill pickle juice off a gallon of pickles, and used the jar for the eggs, mixed with my vinegar and water. Hope you try it and like it.


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## oldvet (Jun 29, 2010)

Why do you need to boil the water and vinegar mix? :scratch


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

I don't usually horn in on others conversations, but I will throw out a quick simple answer to the question of boiling the vinegar solution.

When the hot liquid is poured into the jar, it will have a larger volume than when cold. As it cools it will pull a seal on the jar lid and prevent any air exchange from inside to outside the jar. 

Killing germs or microbes will not be an issue as the vinegar will do that but for the sealing of the jar, it is necessary.


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## oldvet (Jun 29, 2010)

Davarm said:


> I don't usually horn in on others conversations, but I will throw out a quick simple answer to the question of boiling the vinegar solution.
> 
> When the hot liquid is poured into the jar, it will have a larger volume than when cold. As it cools it will pull a seal on the jar lid and prevent any air exchange from inside to outside the jar.
> 
> Killing germs or microbes will not be an issue as the vinegar will do that but for the sealing of the jar, it is necessary.


Okeydokey, that makes sense. Thanks I appreciate that. By the way that's not really "horning in" you will find out on here that we welcome anyone's input. 

Dan


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## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

ReadyMom said:


> :scratch *Question:* If you dehydrate the eggs, and make the egg powder. What would be the remix amount of water & egg to = ONE egg, if I wanted to use it in a recipe for baking, etc? -k


When I started dehydrating eggs, I kept written records of each batch, number of eggs in batch, before and after weight...so on. I did this so I could calculate how much egg powder and water would be required for rehydrating and how much powder would = 1 egg.

I read back over those entries in my notes and noticed that the water required to rehydrate small, medium, large and extra large eggs varied with the size of the egg. I broke out my digital scale and a number of different sized eggs and found that the proportion of yolks to whites varies quite a lot from egg to egg. The more white an egg has, the more water it contains.

Bottom line, I guess the amount of water needed to rehydrate whold eggs could vary significantly anywhere from 2 1/2 to almost 5 parts water to 1 part egg.


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## VUnder (Sep 1, 2011)

Davarm said:


> I don't usually horn in on others conversations, but I will throw out a quick simple answer to the question of boiling the vinegar solution.
> 
> When the hot liquid is poured into the jar, it will have a larger volume than when cold. As it cools it will pull a seal on the jar lid and prevent any air exchange from inside to outside the jar.
> 
> Killing germs or microbes will not be an issue as the vinegar will do that but for the sealing of the jar, it is necessary.


Very good explanation. Caution: put the warm peeled eggs into your jar, with onions, peppers, whatever you want. Then put the jar in a pot with some warm water, the eggs keep the jar from floating. The warm water warms your jar so when you pour the vinegar solution in, it won't bust your jar. Its not so bad on the little jars, but expansion and contraction does a number on those gallon jars, and you have to be careful with them, or you will lose a good jar when it cracks.


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