Did you know you can preserve eggs without a refrigerator or dehydrator? And right in the shell – the whole egg! We have been selling 5 dozen or so per week of our excess eggs to offset feed cost, which is awesome, but we needed a way to preserve eggs without a refrigerator for long term storage.

A technique called “water glassing” eggs is easy and allows us to preserve eggs for a year or longer without any kind of refrigeration, dehydrating or freezing. And the best part? Water glassed eggs are used the same as a fresh egg – as if it were just plucked from the coop.

Water Glassing Eggs Video

If you would like to watch the video of this topic, click play below.

What is water glassing eggs?

Basically, lime is mixed with water and eggs are placed in the mixture. In the past, people used this method to preserve eggs without a refrigerator, because there were no refrigerators! This method has been used since the early 1800s, so we are talking centuries. The barrel of eggs was kept in the root cellar.

This meant that even in the winter, when the chickens were molting and not laying eggs, there was still an abundance. Eggs preserved with water glassing can last for at least a year – and some still use them after two years – amazing! Let me show you the easy art of how to preserve eggs without a refrigerator – water glassing eggs.

Type of Lime to Use

We use pickling lime for water glassing eggs, which can normally be purchased at any grocery store. This type of lime is also known as hydrated lime or slaked lime. Hydrated / slaked lime is generally used in something like masonry to make mortar. Some people just go to the hardware store and buy the hydrated lime, but we were leery about additives.

If you are buying from the hardware store, do some research on the type of lime you are purchasing and read the label, just to be safe. It might be cheaper at the hardware store, but honestly the price for pickling lime at the grocery store was $1 per pound and not a lot is needed. The peace of mind to me is worth it!

Steps for Water Glassing Eggs

It should go without saying that to preserve eggs without a refrigerator, you need to use clean containers and equipment. Hot soapy water and a good rinse is fine. I know you already knew that.

Measure out one ounce by weight of pickling lime per quart of water

We had 16-ounce bags, so we used a food scale to measure out only what was needed. It should be noted that we started out using gallon jars, but switched to larger plastic food grade buckets due to volume. Also remember that the eggs will take up space. If I used gallon jars again, I would only use 2 – 2 ½ quarts of water for each gallon jar, instead of three.

Note: Pickling lime is very, very powdery and can irritate your skin (dries it out), so be careful when doing this at home. I used a canning funnel to get it into the jar without coming into much contact with it. Remember, we want to preserve eggs without a refrigerator – not our skin!

Add one quart of distilled water per ounce of pickling lime

If the water where you live is chlorinated or has fluoride in it (like city tap water), avoid it completely or boil it well and let it cool before you use it. If you have well water on your property and know that it is good and not super high in minerals, use it! But the safest bet is to just use distilled water. You can buy distilled water in the grocery store, but we have a distiller in our basement so that is what we used.

Stir it up well

Stir the mixture well until the lime looks dissolved, but there will still be settling in the bottom of the container after a time, so do not let that disturb you. Use a wooden utensil to mix this up – metals, aluminum in particular, react poorly to lime.

Carefully add fresh, clean, unwashed eggs (also no cracks – picky picky!)

Please note that store-bought eggs cannot be used for water glassing. I cannot stress enough that only fresh, unwashed and clean eggs from your chickens should be used. To preserve eggs without a refrigerator, you must use the freshest eggs possible. By fresh I mean within 24 hours of collecting the egg from the coop.

No debris or dirt should be present and avoid washing or rubbing dirt off of the eggs. If you rub the eggs or wash them, you will remove the “bloom”. When a hen lays an egg, it is laid with a coating (the bloom) on it to protect the egg, but it is still porous. The lime water completely seals the bloom on the egg so that it is no longer porous and therefore, preserved.

Note that any time you wash an egg, you need to put it in the refrigerator. For normal purposes, an unwashed egg can stay out on the counter for up to 30 days before use.

Before adding eggs, also carefully inspect for any cracks. If you get a cracked egg in the container the whole batch will be bad, and so will you. I said what I said.

Be very gentle when putting eggs into the container. You do not want to crack any on the sides or bottom of the container. At first I used a wooden spoon to slowly lower our eggs into the lime water, but now I just put my clean hand down in, then wash well and use some lotion after.

Cover and store in a cool, dark location

When covering, avoid using a metal lid unless it is coated on the inside – like the lid for the pickle jar in the photos. I used plastic wrap and a rubber band to cover the jar. It just needs to be sealed to keep unwanted debris, bugs, and the like out. The rubber band was saved from fresh broccoli stalks bought at the grocery store – these are absolutely perfect for something like keeping plastic wrap sealed around a jar!

When the container is sealed, store in a cool, dark place. We now keep mine in a lidded food grade bucket close to the kitchen counter. That way I can easily add more eggs to the bucket.

Using Water Glassed Eggs

When you are ready to use the water glassed eggs, wash them really well and then crack and use them just like any fresh egg. It might be handy to remove a dozen at a time, wash them and put them in the fridge. Note that a little bit of an odd smell to the water in the bucket is normal – the eggs will taste the same as fresh.

Preserve eggs without a refrigerator? Check.
Preserve eggs without a dehydrator? Check.
Preserve eggs for long term storage? Check!
Water glassing eggs checks all the boxes.

We appreciate the time you spend with us, and if you have learned something valuable, perhaps you would consider subscribing to our channel on YouTube? We post weekly videos about building our homesteading skills and about making our acreage as self-sufficient as possible prior to retiring. We share it all with you! You can see some of our videos and subscribe to our YouTube channel on this page.