Isinglass for preserving chickens eggs?

[the.fee.fairy]

My dad was told tonight that if you put chickens eggs into isinglass (sp?) and water, they'll keep over winter when chickens aren't laying.

Any comments?

[ohareward]

Hi Fee. When I was a kid my mother put eggs into a gelatine type stuff and the eggs kept for a long time. I can remember it being in a four gallon tin that had a secure lid. If one of the eggs went bad there was a horrible smell when the lid came off. When you put them in the stuff, I think you have to keep the eggs apart.

Robin

[Muddypause]

I can remember that being sold as an egg preserver, but don't really know how it was used. I think it was also called water glass. Made from fish innards, IIRC.

I seem to remember using it to make crystal gardens in, too - dissolve copper suphate and other mineral salts in it, and they grow into long, colourful crystal 'plants' before your eyes. Kitchen table chemistry.

[WaltA]

Isinglass and waterglass are different things.

Isinglass is(was) an extract of fish swimbladders.

Waterglass is sodium silicate.

I was aware that waterglass has been used for over-winter egg storage (and also lime water can be used). Used to be commonly available in "ye olde corner shoppee", dunno where one would get it these days !

(aside) When I was young I found a tin of waterglass in the "pantry", there were no eggs in it ! It was left over from when my gran did use it for egg storage, it had not been used for that for a long time so I commandeered it for the magic garden thing with various chemicals.

But I've not heard of isinglass being used for egg storage/preservation. (aside #2 : I first met it as a clearing agent in beer and wine)

I've had a quick rummage in wikipedia, didnt find anything there about eggs & isinglass, but waterglass and lime water are both mentioned for egg storage.

[Muddypause]

This is getting confusing.

Entering "Isinglass +waterglass" into Google returns an equal number of sites that say they are the same thing as sites that say they are not. Here are some examples:

http://pilgrim.ceredigion.gov.uk/index. ... cleid=2721
http://www.swanseaheritage.net/article/ ... THEME_ID=3
http://www.poultry.allotment.org.uk/Chi ... /index.php
http://www.kitchengarden.co.uk/forum/vi ... c9c3335c5b

Maybe we need a volunteer to try both and let us know which works.

[WaltA]

Waterglass > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_silicate
Isinglass > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isinglass

[Martin]

I can just remember isinglass- it was a war/postwar tactic to preserve eggs - I think the theory was that it bunged up the "pores" in the egg - I believe it was applied by dunking in a solution of the stuff..............

[WaltA]

Here is the direct link into wikipedia for the eggs preserving bit :-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_sil ... eservation
,,,,
from wikipedia, (which agrees with what I learned many years ago, before the internet confused things LOL :-) )
QUOTE
Sodium silicate was also used as an egg preservation agent in the early 20th Century with large success. When fresh eggs are immersed in it, bacteria which cause the eggs to spoil are kept out and water is kept in. Eggs can be kept fresh using this method for up to nine months. When boiling eggs preserved this way, it is well advised to pin-prick the egg to allow steam to escape because the shell is no longer porous.
END QUOTE

I doubt if isinglass (gelatin-like) would form sufficient a barrier, nor last long enough, to perform the same function.

[Jack]

Gidday

I have no idea what those stuffs are but when I was a boy my mother used to smere eggs with petrolium jelly. She used to say as long as the egg stays sealed it won't go off.

[Martin]

http://www.peopleatwar.org.uk/imagebank ... rving-pail
http://www.swanseaheritage.net/article/ ... LE_ID=1838

[Muddypause]

...when I was a boy my mother used to smere eggs with petrolium jelly. She used to say as long as the egg stays sealed it won't go off.

That's what I've always been told the point is. But then we have to wonder why such exotic stuff as isinglass and/or/AKA waterglass was used, when sealing up the pores must be a fairly straightforward thing to do. How about dipping them in wax, or keeping them in oil, or something?

[red]

my parents have talked about eggs in isingglass - although they might have it wrong and it was the other stuff...

what i do know.. is that they always moaned that you had to use up the old eggs first.. even though they tasted stale. before you could eat the nice fresh ones

[WaltA]

If we are to widen the discussion beyond just the question of isinglass :-

There are other methods of storing eggs, mineral oil to block the pores, salted butter for similar effect, dipping in boiling water for a few (up to 20) seconds then covering with salted butter (this forms a thin layer of cooked albumen on the inside of the shell as well as the external pore blocking)
Lime water
Varnishing the outside of the shell has also been described, but the type of varnish was not specified, given the age of the article I would expect it to have been shellac. Painting the shell with albumen (egg white) is also described.

I would like to propose another method of maintaining an egg supply during the lean season :

Use artificial lighting to extend (or bring on early) the egglaying period of part of one's flock.
I know I know ! Carbon footprints !! but if the few hours extra light ( in the evening or morning) could be provided by solar and/or wind and a 12v battery charging system ?
Quite a low level of light is all that is needed.

It keeps my quail in-lay right through the winter. [but they later need a rest, which is when the other half - or the new stock - take over ]

[WaltA]

they always moaned that you had to use up the old eggs first.. even though they tasted stale. before you could eat the nice fresh ones

Hehee
That is as bad as eating last years frozen runner beans whilst freezing the new season crop !

[WaltA]

http://www.peopleatwar.org.uk/imagebank ... rving-pail
http://www.swanseaheritage.net/article/ ... LE_ID=1838

Those two sites, and their pics, look very similar ! So their text may be connected as well.
Any site that cannot understand the difference between isinglass and waterglass, as in the second of the two links, cannot be trusted on its other assumptions

I am not saying that isinglass cannot be used as an egg store method * ( I have not been aware of it previously tho')
but any site that describes isinglass as the same as waterglass is not to be trusted.
If I were a betting man I'd take wikepedia any day over an assortment of non-peer-reviewed websites !

* I have yet to find a site ( let alone an authorative site) that describes both isinglass and waterglass as preserving agents whilst also distinguishing between the two agents.