Monday, December 12, 2011

Finally, Perfection At Last

At last it is done. I am not ashamed I had to take the advise of my Mom but in the end, I now have my own Powdered Eggs.

To start off I will tell you what I was doing wrong,

  1. My first batch never dried and came out just oily clumps of nasty eggs because I used butter in the pan and added all the seasonings.
  2. The second batch turned into little rubber balls because I used the oven to dry them and set it on too low of a temp for way too long.
  3. The third batch never dried even after two days because I was using the wrong kind of Dehydrator. It did not have a fan in it.
  4. The forth batch I went back to using the old 1970's model dehydrator but they never dried all the way because my pieces were too big.
  5. This is the batch Momma told me how to do it and they came out just fine. Here is what I did.   



Without using anything in the nonstick pan, I cooked the scrambled eggs until all visible moisture was gone and then a little more. During the cooking process I chopped the eggs up as small as I could so the heat would cook the moisture out.  



Then I put all the eggs into a food processor and chopped them as small as they would go. This is one of the steps I did not do before.







Right out of the food processor and right on the dehydrator tray they went.






I spread the cooked and finely chopped eggs evenly all over the tray. Eighteen eggs should fill up two trays.





The dehydrator was set on 145 degrees overnight. The end result was crispy burnt orange egg crumbles.





A Christmas gift from years ago finally came to use. It worked fantastic on grinding the eggs into a powder. My mom uses her grain mill and says it works even better.



It looks just like corn mill when it's all said and done. All eighteen eggs did not even fill up a pint sized mason jar.
I will vacuum the jar lids to the jar and label the top with the date. All I can Say is that it is about time I got it. Thanks Mom.
Next is dehydrated hamburger meat.

38 comments:

  1. woohoo buddy! thank Mom for showing us the way! and do let us know how the hamburger works out!

    your friend,
    kymber

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  2. That is so cool. I'm going to give you a shout out on this from my blog. I'm going to give this one a try my self.

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  3. That is awesome MDR. There is never any shame getting help from Mom or Dad. Heck, we want our children to turn to us so we have to set the example.

    Now you got me wanting to dehydrate eggs and our girls are not laying. I guess something to look forward to.

    -Genevieve

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  4. clap, clap, clap. Nice job. Pat yourself on the back buddy.

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  5. Kymber - Will do

    Flier - Thank you and seeing it was really easy this time, everyone should.

    G - That is true.
    I started off with some store bought ones because I did not want to mess up any of the real eggs.

    Rob - Thanks buddy

    Duke - It is a staple after all.

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  6. Timely advice! Our hens usually slow down this time a year, but now they have really sped up. We started buying our feed off this Amish gentlemen who, start to finish, makes his own feed. That has to be it. LOL.

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  7. Mandy - Is it any cheaper to buy the feed that way?

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  8. I'll try these, thanks for the advice and recipe..I'm your new follower..

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  9. Thank you Susie for stopping by, leaving a comment and becoming a new reader. If you need anything just let me know.
    I hope you read the mistakes I made doing these. My hardheadedness made it take a lot more time and a lot of wasted eggs before I finally listened to my mother and did them the right way.

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  10. I am going to give the eggs a try this week. I would enjoy hearing how you use them after they are dried. Do you make scrambled eggs for breakfast or just in baking etc.. I have made hamburger rocks in the oven and they are now our favorite way to preserve ground beef. When re-hydrated they are indistinguishable from fresh ground and browned hamburger cooked fresh in a skillet.

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    Replies
    1. Good luck Papa T, I hope I showed you what not to do.
      I use the eggs in anything I can. I do not think they make great scrambled eggs because they are a little gritty. Omelets are not bad. I use them anywhere a dish calls for whole eggs. I have not done just egg whites or yolks yet.
      Have fun.

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  11. Thank you so very much for the info. A quick question though, how much of the powdered egg will equal a real egg? Diana

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    1. Diana, I am using 1 1/2 tablespoons for one egg. I have seen people use 2 to 3 tablespoons but for me the 1 1/2 seams to be the best.
      Thanks for the comment.

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  12. Just began reading on this blog,,,question is what would be the shelf life,,vacuumed packed w/ O2 absorbers?big question,,how'd they taste and comparable texture to fresh?? Either way I'm gonna give a try myself,,just wondering if anyone had anything to add to above process??

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for stopping by Anony,
      Anything I put up I only give a one year shelf life. I have some I want to try at five years just to see how they taste.
      When reconstituted they are a little grainy if eaten like a scrambled egg, but do great in meatloaf and other recipes.
      Good luck

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  13. Can you give alternate instructions for those of us who do not have a dehydrator? I have heard you can use the oven to dehydrate foods but I have not been brave enough to try.

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    1. Thanks for the comment Tina, yes you can use the oven as you would a dehydrator. You do need to keep the door cracked to let the moisture out and keep the temps low and steady.

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  14. I have found that if you don't cook the eggs first, but dehydrate the uncooked scrambled eggs they taste much more like fresh eggs. When I cooked them and then dehydrated them they tasted more rubbery.

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    1. Thanks for the comment April.
      I have heard that but I am not willing to take the chance for them to grow bacteria in the dehydrator. That is why I cook them first.

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  15. I was wondering why you can't just put liquid eggs on the dehydrator sheet and dry and grind with out all the extra steps?

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    1. Thanks for the comment Annony,
      You can and some do. I don't due to the threat of salmonella. The dehydrator does not get them to the higher temp fast enough. It may be safe but I don't temp fate.

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    2. You could heat the liquid eggs in the microwave in a bowl, till hot but not cooked. Then pour them on the plastic trays, like for fruit leather. Set the dehydrator for between 165-180 and watch closely. Cook till the sheets are crispy and then blend in food processor. You could also store them as sheets and just break of pieces to rehydrate or blend enough to make flakes.

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  16. Thanks this will be a big help

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  17. I am a newby to all of this so this is probably a stupid question. Do you mix the dry egg powder with some kind of liquid to use it and if so what?

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the comment Anony,
      Yes, you reconstitute the eggs with water first.

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  18. When using the dried eggs, do you add any liquid besides what you would normally use in the recipe (such as a cake or meatloaf)...and if so, how much per egg?

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    1. Yes Anony, you add about that much water to the eggs to reconstitute them. I really don't have an amount, its just about that much until they get to the consistency you want them at.

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  19. How many tablespoons equals 1 egg?

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    Replies
    1. It's really hard to judge but I use 1 tbl for two eggs and it seem to work out.

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  20. I tried both ways.. First I cooked the eggs and dehydrated them. when THAT experiment turned out so horrible I tried dehydrating them raw.... With the same results. Both times I used my grain mill to mill them down to a wonderful powder, BUT also both times I took 2 tablespoons of powder, added water to reconstitute them and heated them up in a pan and wound up with the most disgusting things I have ever tasted... They may be OK for baking, I haven't tried that yet, But on a plate next to a couple strips of bacon is some pretty vile stuff. I saw a lot of comments here where people dehydrated them and they turned out great. BUT only a couple published whether or not they actually tried eating them.. I Did.. and won't do it again unless I can figure out what the commercial shops do that maintains taste.

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    1. Good points myrdynn. I have tried them by doing just the way you described and yes, they lack the luster a regular cooked egg has. It was the fine grit that got to me. We use them baking mostly.
      Soaking them in milk instead of water does make them taste a little better.

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  21. How do you store? And do you know how long of a shelf life?

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    1. In a vacuum sealed pint jar and I don't know on the shelf life because we use them within a year. I just keep the jars rotated.

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  22. Thanks for telling us about your failures. Your mistakes will help us all learn.
    I hope to try this before eggs go up another dollar a dozen.

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  23. how much liquid to bring them back ?

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