Preserving fresh chicken eggs

 I have been doing some research on how to preserve some of my farm fresh eggs when I have an abundance during the summer. One of the ways I discovered was keeping the eggs in a lime (calcium hydroxide) solution. I read some great things about this being a great way to preserve the eggs. The solution is made by mixing water and lime. Not the fruit kind, but the lime that can be found in the canning section of a store. I purchased a bag of the pickling lime to make the solution. I also purchased a couple of gallon sized containers with lids to place the eggs and solution in. I was able to get about 3 dozen eggs per gallon container. I then made the solution with a ratio of 1 quart of water with 1 ounce of lime and whisked it until it was all dissolved. I then poured the lime and water solution over the eggs until they were all submerged. Because the solution is calcium hydroxide, the calcium in the solution helps to seal the pores in the egg shells to diminish the air exchange that happens. This is the reason you want the solution to be over-saturated with the lime. When your solution is over-saturated, there will be some of the lime that settles to the bottom after it sits for a while. This is just fine to have and there is no need to re-stir the solution. I now have the containers being stored in a cool place in our basement. This method should keep the eggs for up to 2 years. I don’t foresee myself keeping eggs that long, I would just like to enjoy the eggs during the winter when the egg production is down. Fingers crossed that this works! 

Enjoy!