Lime egg water went bad - thoughts?

How long is this supposed to keep your eggs?  While I was living on my boat I kept the eggs coated in vasoline.  They lasted several months.  This was in South FL.  

Stefanie Chandler wrote:How long is this supposed to keep your eggs?  While I was living on my boat I kept the eggs coated in vasoline.  They lasted several months.  This was in South FL.  

All these egg preserving techniques: corn flour, lime water, Vaseline etc. are supposed to seal the eggs. Lime water seems to be the best [up to 2 years, some say, but even that technique cannot be counted on to preserve raw eggs in the shell forever. Any crack in the egg, any dirt getting in the solution and you lose the batch of eggs.
Vaseline is a petroleum product, so a known carcinogen and it will eventually impart an off flavor but it is yet another way to store eggs.
Here are some folks who seem to have done what you did in similar circumstances;
https://eoceanic.com/sailing/tips/18/119/stowing_eggs_for_longevity/#:~:text=Eggs%20go%20off%20when%20they,flavour%20after%20a%20few%20months.

It took 15 months for the first egg to start floating and I've been a little afraid to use any of them now since the jar is getting cloudy. Now that my layers are molting (in winter, no less) I was considering opening the jar and seeing what is salvageable. The experiences of my fellow permies is very encouraging! I'll see what they taste like this weekend (and throw away the floaters).

Robert Kish wrote:It took 15 months for the first egg to start floating and I've been a little afraid to use any of them now since the jar is getting cloudy. Now that my layers are molting (in winter, no less) I was considering opening the jar and seeing what is salvageable. The experiences of my fellow permies is very encouraging! I'll see what they taste like this weekend (and throw away the floaters).

Cloudy water is definitely not a good sign. Maybe you can salvage some but if you have pets or chickens, you might want to rinse them well and let them have it: Their digestive system is usually not as touchy as our own. If your pets refuse them, that's your sign too.
Please don't take chances with your health.

Keeping in mind that the lime will settle, but will also stir, if the container is disturbed, my main consideration with cloudy water, if there are no obviously broken ones, is to check each egg carefully for cracks. Otherwise, simple cloudiness, in the absence of breakage, has not been an indicator of bad eggs, in my experience. Off colors - yellow, odd gray-green,etc, or a scent other than mild ammonia would be worrisome.

My experience is from successfully keeping eggs in lime for the last two years now. We’ve had a few batches go bad. It seems to be that a combination of broken eggs and warm temperatures will quickly cause the rest of the eggs to become inedible. I keep 3 gallon food grade buckets outside in the shade year round, Being very careful not to bump the buckets and cause any breakage. I haven’t had any issues with freezing during the winter causing any problems. We live in zone7b pnw. Even a bucket with a few broken eggs (as evidenced by yellow water ) seem to not affect the other eggs for several months when the temperatures were cold. That said, I try to go thru that bucket first and clean out the broken ones. Hope this helps

Another Status Update!

Regarding Experiment 2 here:

G B Spencer wrote:
2) The 8 dozen I didn't put back into the water I rinsed lightly again and put them in cartons in the fridge.  These are the oldest, so anywhere from 3-7 months old, stored in lime water almost the entire time.  (They didn't go in the water the same day they were laid).  We'll eat those first, while storing or sharing the fresh eggs that come from the chickens.  That'll take a few weeks to go through!

We've used up almost all the rinsed and refrigerated eggs, and no problems at all!  

I've not checked on the re-limed eggs since I posted the first item a month ago, so I'll try to get to that soonish.

Does it hurt if you put more lime in water than it's supposed to have

Welcome, Diane. Excess lime in the water just settles out and stays on the bottom. No harm done. I always go for more than I need in the mix just to be on the safe side.

It doesn't hurt to have extra - but it doesn't help, either. I've had eggs in lime water that were still good nearly 3yrs after preservation. The things I've noticed most, is that they get fragile. The yolk will break almost instantly, upon breaking the shell, and the raw texture of the entire egg is watery, though it cooks up fine. You can't really tell any difference between a hard boiled store bought egg and a hard boiled limed egg (which is only reliable with farm fresh eggs, not store bought), so they're not as good as my very fresh eggs, hard boiled, but they're no worse than sore bought eggs, hard boiled.

Carla Burke wrote:It doesn't hurt to have extra - but it doesn't help, either. I've had eggs in lime water that were still good nearly 3yrs after preservation. The things I've noticed most, is that they get fragile. The yolk will break almost instantly, upon breaking the shell, and the raw texture of the entire egg is watery, though it cooks up fine. You can't really tell any difference between a hard boiled store bought egg and a hard boiled limed egg (which is only reliable with farm fresh eggs, not store bought), so they're not as good as my very fresh eggs, hard boiled, but they're no worse than sore bought eggs, hard boiled.

That reminds me: I will have to check on mine: They were glassed on Feb. 6th 2023. They look OK. but I should try them. Maybe hard boiled. I have 2 dozens.

I hear what everyone is saying - I need to pull out the eggs I put away last year and hard boil them.
My husband will thank you - he's been asking for hardboiled eggs, so that'll take care of two things.

They should be fine - small batches, not jostled since they were put in place. I won't be reusing the lime water, I don't think. Too chancy for a food; I try not to gamble with food too much.

Kristine Keeney wrote:I hear what everyone is saying - I need to pull out the eggs I put away last year and hard boil them.
My husband will thank you - he's been asking for hardboiled eggs, so that'll take care of two things.

They should be fine - small batches, not jostled since they were put in place. I won't be reusing the lime water, I don't think. Too chancy for a food; I try not to gamble with food too much.

That's smart, especially that lime water isn't terribly expensive. I put mine in 1/2 gallon jars. That will hold about one dozen, give or take. This way, if one jar goes bad, it is only a dozen eggs.

Kristine Keeney wrote:I hear what everyone is saying - I need to pull out the eggs I put away last year and hard boil them.
My husband will thank you - he's been asking for hardboiled eggs, so that'll take care of two things.

They should be fine - small batches, not jostled since they were put in place. I won't be reusing the lime water, I don't think. Too chancy for a food; I try not to gamble with food too much.

I've never reused the lime water, for the same reason.

Instructions say use non washed eggs and also airtight lid so no air to evaporate the water.

Loucille Sparks wrote:Instructions say use non washed eggs and also airtight lid so no air to evaporate the water.

Welcome to permies and congratulations on your first post.

Loucille Sparks wrote:Instructions say use non washed eggs and also airtight lid so no air to evaporate the water.

My eggs, glassed on Feb. 6th 2023 still look good on 6/14/2024. following instruction to the letter, which I don't always do, is key here. especially inspecting them for cracks before you jar them and keeping the bloom on them is paramount. I took only 'perfect' eggs, that I didn't have to spot clean even.
I also keep the glass half gallons out of sunlight. I don't know if that helps. Maybe I should finally hard boil a dozen and see what they taste like, the consistency, ease of peeling etc.

I now have the results on my glassed eggs which I put in lime water exactly 2 years ago. [2/5/2023]
* Most are still good to eat hard boiled. I use a steamer and I give them the full time of 14 minutes.
* I was expecting that they would be easier to shell since they are 'old', but the first batch I did, I only went 13 minutes and those were still soft on the inside. My bad.
* While only 1 egg out of 2 dozens went "bad", the rest of them, in the same jar, were still good, if hard boiled.
* Glassing them seems to weaken the membrane between the yolk and the white, so if you break them to fry, you will not get "sunny side up", just scrambled.
* Also, sitting immobile for a long time in the jars made the yolk 'sink' to the bottom of the egg, so the hard boiled egg was lopsided.
* While heating them, I had a large number that developed a slim long crack from pole to pole. There was no escape during boiling, however, even though I didn't add salt or vinegar. They were still fine to eat. I made myself eat them without seasoning to better judge if the glassing had imparted an objectionable taste. Well, that was hard to compare because I usually add salt and pepper... so I added salt and pepper on my second egg, and it was just like I recalled fresh hard boiled eggs.
* Just a word about those that had developed a long crack from pole to pole: I used a knife to continue the splitting and used a spoon to spoon them out of the shell. It was easier than messing with ice water to pull them out in one piece.
* Finally, if you feel that glassing eggs is not for you, here is one more suggestion: Continue glassing eggs to hard boil and give to your deplumed girls in the throes of their molt: it will shorten it as feathers are made of the same stuff as your hair and nails', and it requires a lot of protein. Even if it doesn't shorten their molt appreciably [I think it does] it gives them that extra support during a stressful time in their lives.
Plus, keeping this ancient skill alive is a good idea anyway ;-)
I hope this encourages you to try it.

I do waterglassing. The eggs here are 10 months old and as you can see, store perfectly in my kitchen.