There are only a few ways to preserve eggs that are long term, and shelf stable. Freeze dried eggs are great for long term food storage, and they can be reconstituted exactly like fresh scrambled eggs. Freeze drying your excess summer eggs is a great option for personal food security.
Last summer, our hens laid an over abundance of eggs. They were laying more than we could eat, or give away to family and close friends. However, I had purchased a freeze dryer the previous year, and freeze dried eggs suddenly made a lot of sense to make. I found that this food preservation method worked perfectly for my abundance of fresh eggs. Even better? I discovered that the eggs reconstituted exactly like fresh, and I couldn’t tell the difference when I made cheesy scrambled eggs out of them. They also worked perfectly in baking!
These are a great option for camping, as well, since it only takes some water to reconstitute them enough for cooking or baking. You can also use them as part of making up your own baking mixes for cakes or cookies, that are shelf stable for your pantry storage. If you’re considering a freeze dryer, remember that it’s a versatile and useful addition to your food preservation methods.
What are Freeze Dried Eggs?
Freeze dried eggs are eggs that have been processes in a freeze dryer. They are usually processed raw and scrambled when you plan to cook or bake with them later. Sometimes they are processed as cooked scrambled eggs for greater convenience when hiking or camping, since you only need hot water then to prepare them.
Are Freeze Dried Eggs Safe?
Freeze dried eggs made in a freeze dryer are safe. You cannot make shelf stable, safe to consume, preserved eggs using any of the “freeze dried” hacks that involve dry ice, or leaving stuff out in the freezer for weeks. As long as they are made correctly, and then stored correctly, airtight and kept in a relatively stable temperature environment, they will be safe and shelf-stable for up to 25 years.
Making Freeze Dried Eggs:
Make sure your freeze dryer is set up according to it’s manual and directions. You’ll want to have freezer space in a deep freeze if you’re pre-filling the trays before the run. Pre-freezing the filled trays in your deep freezer can make the machine’s cycle a bit shorter. By having food frozen before it goes in, it shortens the machine’s pre-freeze cycle since the machine only needs to cool itself and not freeze the food before beginning the vacuum and drying cycle.
Ingredients:
- farm-fresh eggs
Equipment:
- Freeze dryer
- freeze dryer trays
- tray covers
Directions:
- Crack the fresh eggs into a large bowl.
- Scramble the eggs with a whisk or fork, avoid making them too frothy. I do not blend them with a blender.
- Pour into freeze dryer trays, with liners underneath, until the trays are just below the edge. Alternatively, freeze the scrambled eggs in silicon molds or ice-cube trays and then transfer the frozen cubes to your freeze dryer trays.
- Pre-freeze the eggs in your deep-freezer, preferably a chest freezer for at least 12 hours. You can get tray covers so that you can stack the trays inside the freezer.
- Set up your freeze dryer for a food run, and transfer the frozen trays into your freeze dryer. Let it run through the freeze cycle, make sure the vacuum engages properly. Let it run for 24-36 hours to freeze-dry eggs, add extra dry time if needed.
- Once dry, if frozen in cubes they can be packaged up as-is in mylar bags with an oxygen absorber. Make sure to seal the bags with an impulse sealer after packaging.
- If processed on the trays as a solid, single, block, powder them by hand, in a food processor, or on the tray before packaging in mylar bags with an oxygen absorber. Always make sure the bags are solidly sealed before placing them in storage.
- Remember to label and date your egg preserves after sealing them. With proper storage these will keep for up to 25 years.
Can you freeze dry raw eggs?
Yes, this recipe is freeze drying raw eggs. You can also freeze dry cooked eggs. Eggs preserved with this method, in their raw state, are great for reconstituting for omlettes, scrambled eggs, or baking, the taste is comparable to fresh eggs. Always cook your eggs if they are freeze dried raw.
Freeze dried cooked eggs, like your standard scrambled eggs, are great for reconstituting for hiking trips, camping, or as quick meal item, as they just need boiling water to be read in 5 minutes. No extra cooking required.
How many eggs can fit on a freeze dryer tray? or in your freeze dryer?
It will depend on the size of your freeze dryer. My medium Harvest Right freeze dryer fits about 21 eggs per tray. So with five trays, it would be around 8-9 dozen large eggs per batch. You’ll fit fewer extra large eggs, and more medium eggs. This can depend on your egg source or your chickens. Chickens just starting to lay usually lay eggs that are a bit smaller than chickens in their second or third year of laying.
Storing Your Freeze Dried Eggs:
For max shelf-life, follow proper storage protocol for all freeze dried foods. Store in additional containers or storage totes to remove the risk of the mylar bags being punctured. Some also add a silica packet or add silica packets to the larger storage totes to keep moisture from building up around the storage bags and weakening them over time.
Once opened, keep the oxygen absorber with the food, and store it in glass jars that you can re-seal with a jar vacuum sealer. This helps keep the food fresh and dry until it is used up.
How long will freeze dried eggs last?
Freeze dried eggs will last in long-term storage for up to 25 years if stored in airtight containers or mylar pouches with oxygen absorbers. After the package is opened, as long as they are re-sealed with a vacuum sealer in an airtight glass jar, they can keep on the counter for 4-6 weeks.
Are freeze-dried eggs healthy?
Freeze dried eggs are as healthy as regular eggs. The freeze drying process only removes moisture and water content from the eggs, it doesn’t change their protein or fat profile. Your personal dietary needs will determine how healthy freeze dried eggs are for you. If you can consume fresh eggs freely, then you can treat freeze dried and reconstituted eggs in the same manner as you would farm fresh or store bought fresh eggs.
How to Use Freeze-Dried Eggs:
You can reconstitute your freeze dried eggs to make scrambled eggs or an omlette. Simply add two tablespoons of water to one tablespoon of freeze dried egg powder to equal roughly one egg. If reconstituting egg cubes, it will be between 2-4 tablespoons of water per cube to equal one to one and a half eggs.
You can also reconstitute eggs with milk or other liquid for use in cooking, baking, or making beverages. Use hot/cooking preparation methods for beverages using these eggs. The eggs can also be used in custards, or any other cooked dessert. Since the eggs are scrambled before drying, they will not work for recipes where the yolk and white need to be separated. If you want to, you can separate the egg whites and egg yolks onto different trays before freeze drying, or use packaged egg whites for a freeze drying batch just for meringue or other dishes that don’t need the yolks.
Simply add two tablespoons of water to one tablespoon of freeze dried egg powder to equal one large egg. Use in your baking recipes for cakes, cookies, and other goodies.
For shelf stable dried baking mixes, remember that one tablespoon of egg powder equals one egg and include the water addition in the instructions. Store assembled mixes in a mason jar that you have vacuumed sealed if it will be more than a week or two before the mix is used. Store jars of mix and jars of freeze dried foods out of direct sunlight.
Back to You:
What other foods are you interested in preserving with this versatile and unique food preservation method? Have you tried fruit? Candy? Or vegetables?
What else would you like to learn about this food preservation method? Leave a comment!
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