Nouvelles

News and Opinion from Anne Barone to Keep You Chic & Slim

|| 25 June 2020

Anne Buys 33 Dozen (Dried) Eggs

image: 10 pound package of dried egg powder and the Priority Mail box in which it arrived

Eggs. As the end of May approached, I was down to my last egg — and unwilling to run the risks of store shopping to buy more. In Rick Atkinson’s history of the last year of WWII in Europe, I happened to read about the difficulty of shipping tons of dehydrated eggs to Europe for the American soldiers.

Dried eggs! Could I buy dried eggs in 2020? A quick Internet search and I learned I could buy dried eggs in theory — but many vendors had sold out in the current virus crisis due to high demand.

I did find a source, but the smallest size available was 10 pounds.

Ten pounds of egg powder would reconstitute to approximately 400 eggs. That was slightly more than 33 dozen eggs!

image: 10 pound bag of 400 powdered whole eggs sitting next to a standarf- sized carton for 1 dozen eggs

 

Was the weather too hot to ship dried egg powder safely? How would I store the egg powder to prevent spoilage before I could consume the 10 pounds of reconstituted eggs? What if I spent all that money and couldn’t tolerate the taste? Would the dried eggs work in omelettes, galettes and baking? In a fit of “I’ll answer those questions later” I placed the order. That was a Friday.

By Monday I had done some research (and I did not know it then I had found confusing and not absolutely factual information about the storage of powdered eggs). I decided to cancel my order.

Too late. The powdered eggs were on their way. As you can see from the photos, the egg powder arrived.

In the past three weeks, I have learned a number of facts about dehydrated eggs. Some of the facts I learned from research. Some from the experience of cooking and eating my dried eggs in various recipes.

The Facts:

Dehydrated eggs come in various versions: powder, granules, crystals. Each has a different taste. Crystals are said to taste most like fresh eggs.

Better to buy a brand of dehydrated eggs that specifically states storage requirements.

If the dried eggs you buy do not list storage requirements, you can become very confused by the conflicting information you find in online searches.

If I had persisted longer in my search, I would have found an online vendor that still sells the 1 pound and 5 pounds sizes of powdered eggs — and that gives specific storage recomendations.

Dried eggs have a slight “rotten egg” smell that does not mean they are spoiled. Smell goes away in cooking.

Different brands of dried eggs advise different proportions of reconstitution with water. My brand lists 2 tablespoons egg powder reconstituted in 4 tablespoons water to equal 1 egg. Other brands advise 2 tablespoons of the egg powder in 3 tablespoons water. Experiment to find what tastes best to you.

Standing time (5 to 10 minutes) helps in reconstituting egg powder.

Reconstituted uncooked egg powder dried on the kitchen counter is difficult to scrub off.

If you have eaten a “breakfast biscuit with egg” in a fast food restaurant, you have likely tasted powdered eggs.

Note: I am still learning how to adapt my favorite recipes to using powdered eggs. I’ll report again in a month or so on what I have devised.

be chic, stay slim, stay safe — Anne Barone