The
best-tasting way to preserve eggs is to make them
into casseroles
and
freeze. If you
want to preserve fresh,
raw eggs without using a
refrigerator,
they can be preserved in a salt brine, but they are not going to come
out as good tasting, or as versatile in cooking, as fresh eggs.
 Brine
preserving is
for people
who have extra eggs that they want to
preserve so that they will have eggs during the time when the hens will
not be laying, and who wish to do so "off-grid" without electricity or
do not want to use a refrigerator or freezer for any other reason..
Put
1 quart of water into a baked enamel pot and bring to a boil. Add
salt until it can no longer dissolve the salt, or about 1/8 pound of
salt. Mix together and stir solution. Turn off heat and let cool. Place
fresh, raw eggs one at a time into a wide-mouthed glass jar, taking
care not to crack the shell. When all the eggs are in place, slowly
pour the cooled brine into the jar. Fill to the brim. Cover the jar
with its lid and store in cool place. It usually takes 3 weeks before
eggs are salted, can last for up to 6 months.
I suggest that you brine
preserve a
dozen eggs if you have extra so
that you know how to do it should the need ever arise. but unless you
live in a serious back woods
primitive camping situation, your family is probably not going to want
to eat brine-preserved eggs and will complain that you should go out to
the store and buy fresh.
Brine
preserved eggs can be added to anything cooked such as soup,
pasta or casseroles, eliminating the salt that would otherwise be used.
They are not good for egg-only items like scrambled eggs, hard-boiled
eggs or fried egg.
To
eat: Drop eggs into soup or
onto hot noodles or other hot, cooked food. Pickling eggs is about
keeping food fresh during winter months when hens are not laying, not
to enhance its flavor as food, so don't expect great flavor. Yolks will
stay runny even when cooked. Very salty, so don't add salt to any soup
or food you put the eggs in until after trying it.
Hard-boiled
eggs
can be pickled in vinegar or pickle juice and brine in the refrigerator
for 10 days for flavor, but should then be eaten within the normal
amount of time for hard-boiled eggs, so this is not a preservation
method. Adding beet juice or a piece of beet root will make them more
colorful.
Eggs
that have come
straight from the hen and have not been washed or
processed in
any way will keep in the refrigerator for months.
Preserving
Food without Freezing or Canning :
Traditional Techniques Using Salt, Oil, Sugar, Alcohol, Vinegar,
Drying, Cold Storage, and Lactic Fermentation by The Gardeners and
Farmers of Centre Terre Vivante.
Root
Cellaring: Natural Cold Storage of Fruits & Vegetables by Mike
and Nancy Bubel. An excellent
book on storage of
fruits and vegetables.
Cook's
Illustrated Make-Ahead Cookbook This
is not strictly an all-nourishing foods cookbook, but it uses real ingredients and has lots
of
side dishes that can be made ahead of time. Where a particular
ingredient isn't
the most nutrient-dense food available, it
can be easily substituted.
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