Gauteng Smallholder November 2015 | Page 44

IN THE KITCHEN From page 40 in lard, [6] a group that was merely coated with lard, [7] a batch that were coated with Vaseline, [8] 36 eggs that were packed in dry sand, [9] 36 that were packed in wet sand, and, [10] 36 eggs that were packed in dry sawdust. Except for the refrigerated batch, all the groups of eggs were stored at a room temperature which varied o from 18 to 21 C. Eggs preserved in waterglass It very quickly became apparent, however, that some they were trying were worse of the "preservation" methods than no attempts at preservation at all. The eggs (both fertile and unfertile) buried in both the wet sand and sawdust looked bad, smelled bad, had lost their taste, and had runny textures just one month after being "preserved". Even the control groups ~ eggs which were kept at room temperature with nothing done to them ~ were better than that. Conclusion after only four weeks: trying to store eggs in either wet sand or dry sawdust is counterproductive. Surprisingly enough, the control eggs ~ although slightly mushy and musty ~ were still edible a full eight weeks after their tests began. Except for one bad water glassed egg (which must have had an unnoticed crack in its shell at the beginning of the 42 www.sasmallholder.co.za experiment), the other seven batches still in the running were all much better. Which meant that the "preservation" methods they represented really were preserving the eggs to one extent or another. Believe it or not, their controls (both fertile and unfertile) were hanging in there after yet another full four weeks had passed. Under survival conditions, the researchers say they could have lived on the completely unprotected 90-day-old eggs if they'd had to. Some of the other groups, on the other hand, were becoming a little disappointing. Most of them (even the refrigerated ones) had more or less runny whites, one of the refrigerated bought eggs smelled bad, all the Vaselinecoated eggs were marginal, one of the fertilised eggs packed in dry sand had a bad sulphur taste, and a storeContinued on page 43