Pickled and
Preserved Eggs
Until the recent developments in breeding and
artificial lighting, domesticated birds
produced eggs seasonally: they would begin
laying in the spring, continue through the
summer, and then cease in the fall. So, just as
they did for milk and for fruits and
vegetables, our ancestors developed methods
for preserving eggs so that they could be eaten
year-round. Many of these methods simply
isolated the eggs from the air and left them
largely unchanged. Water saturated with lime,
or calcium hydroxide, is alkaline enough to
discourage bacteria, and coats the egg shell
with a thin layer of calcium carbonate that
partly seals the shell pores. Oiling with
linseed oil apparently began on Dutch farms
around 1800. The early 20th century brought
the use of waterglass, or a solution of sodium
silicate, which again seals the shell pores and