Pickled Eggs

[Vetus Ossa]

My first job at 16 (1968) was a school summer holiday job at the local Bowyer's pie factory in Plymouth. Every Friday morning I had a 6.00 am start and my job was to transfer several hundred eggs which had just been delivered into a wire basket which was then dunked into a vat of boiling water for 4 minutes. The boiling water was drained off and refilled with cold. I then had to shell all the eggs into a large steel tub. The tedious part was transferring the eggs by hand into the basket without breaking any. Took me about 4 hours in total.
The eggs were destined for Gala Pies. How did they stop the eggs blackening you ask? They bleached them with a phial of Hydrogen Peroxide added to the tub. The Foreman supervising me would take the empty phial home to his wife who washed her hair in the rinsed out container. She was Platinum Blonde. nothing wasted, even the eggs shells went back to the hens for recycling.

gala-pie-with-egg.jpg

My mother and niece worked there at about that time

Do they remember me! Or my brother in law now, John Putt.

My mother has passed on to the great pork pie factory in the sky and to be honest I didn’t know my niece worked there until I read it on Facebook, well I did know but forgot, I think my mother got her a summer job there.
I know Derek and Colin Putt, don’t know if they are related.

[Mick F]

Can you find a source for that Mick - I think you're wrong, and certainly never heard that whilst I worked in the sector.

The only difference is between younger and older hens, where the former produce thicker shells.
Lots of sources for that info:

https://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-dif ... uth-113678
https://www.mvorganizing.org/what-is-th ... and-brown/

Amongst many.

White chicken eggs ALWAYS have thinner shells than brown chicken eggs.
Different breeds of chicken, not the age of them.

Not saying that younger hens lay thicker shells. They could well do for all I know. No comment on that.
I'm saying that brown shells are thicker and stronger and less likely to crack than white eggs.

Try it, and report back.

Meanwhile, see the egg colours from different breeds.
I was always under the impression that bird shells were formed from what they ate and the grit they picked.
I now know that bird egg shells are made from the bird's calcium in their bones and not what they eat.

[Jdsk]

Meanwhile, see the egg colours from different breeds.

Egg colour does vary between varieties, but the request was for evidence to support:

Brown hens tend to lay brown eggs, and white hens tend to lay white eggs.

Jonathan

[Jdsk]

I now know that bird egg shells are made from the bird's calcium in their bones and not what they eat.

Those aren't exclusive alternatives... the calcium in their bones comes from what they eat. But they can certainly run down their stores while laying because they aren't eating enough calcium to keep up with the egg production.

Jonathan

PS: If there are any (other) tortoise keepers out there please remember to consider their mineral status.

[Paulatic]

[
White chicken eggs ALWAYS have thinner shells than brown chicken eggs.
Different breeds of chicken, not the age of them.

Not in my experience and we’ve kept hens for many years. Some of the strongest eggs We’ve had were from White Leghorns.
Traditional breeds seem to keep their shell strength longer than the commercial bred types. Younger hens always have a stronger shell.
I’ve a Black Rock, 6 yo , who doesn’t lay many eggs now but when she does they come out corrugated or rifled in interesting patterns. An older egg always has more white to yoke ratio as well.

[francovendee]

I've never tasted pickled eggs and have no desire to do so. They just look so repellent.
We buy free range eggs and although they are tasty they just don't compare to those from a neighbours hens.
The difference is very marked. They taste far better and have a darker yolk.
We're always pleased to look after them when the neighbours go away.

[Jdsk]

I've never tasted pickled eggs and have no desire to do so. They just look so repellent.

The similarity to eyeballs?

Jonathan

[Bonefishblues]

Can you find a source for that Mick - I think you're wrong, and certainly never heard that whilst I worked in the sector.

The only difference is between younger and older hens, where the former produce thicker shells.
Lots of sources for that info:

https://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-dif ... uth-113678
https://www.mvorganizing.org/what-is-th ... and-brown/

Amongst many.

White chicken eggs ALWAYS have thinner shells than brown chicken eggs.
Different breeds of chicken, not the age of them.

Not saying that younger hens lay thicker shells. They could well do for all I know. No comment on that.
I'm saying that brown shells are thicker and stronger and less likely to crack than white eggs.

Try it, and report back.

Meanwhile, see the egg colours from different breeds.
I was always under the impression that bird shells were formed from what they ate and the grit they picked.
I now know that bird egg shells are made from the bird's calcium in their bones and not what they eat.

Do you eat white eggs Mick? If so, where do you get them from?

[Jdsk]

Different breeds of chicken, not the age of them.

Not saying that younger hens lay thicker shells. They could well do for all I know. No comment on that

"Factors Influencing Shell Quality":
https://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles ... ll-quality

Age of Bird: As the hen ages, the thickness of the shell usually declines. Older flocks lay larger eggs, which break easily. The hen is genetically capable of placing only a finite amount of calcium in the shell. Secondly, hen looses some of her ability to mobilize calcium from the bone, and is less able to produce the needed calcium carbonate. The absorption and mobilization of calcium decreases to less than 50% of normal after 40 weeks of age.

and many other factors discussed in the same piece.

Jonathan

[Bonefishblues]

Different breeds of chicken, not the age of them.

Not saying that younger hens lay thicker shells. They could well do for all I know. No comment on that

"Factors Influencing Shell Quality":
https://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles ... ll-quality

Age of Bird: As the hen ages, the thickness of the shell usually declines. Older flocks lay larger eggs, which break easily. The hen is genetically capable of placing only a finite amount of calcium in the shell. Secondly, hen looses some of her ability to mobilize calcium from the bone, and is less able to produce the needed calcium carbonate. The absorption and mobilization of calcium decreases to less than 50% of normal after 40 weeks of age.

and many other factors discussed in the same piece.

Jonathan

There are a plethora of sources, all saying much the same, as I indicated Jonathan.

My latest (only ) hypothesis is that Mick may be buying his white eggs at the farm gate (because they simply aren't sold in retailers because the consumer won't buy them) and inadvertently buying eggs from older birds, which is clouding his judgement.

Commercial egg-layers don't last beyond 72 weeks, I read, so you will never get a brown egg from an old bird, unless also from the farm gate.

[Audax67]

Tried one years & years ago, in that London place I think. Didn't think much of it.

Chinese 1000-year eggs, now, that's something else. Restaurateur chum from Canton told me that they're usually only 2 or 3 years old but they're not bad after 6. Must try it some time, we get a lot of ash from our wood-burners.

[Paulatic]

Back in the early seventies one of the pubs I frequented was in Commondale NY Moors. Locally know as Mucky Tom's
The pickled eggs on his bar were a sight to behold and looking at them was what most people did. The appearance would never attract a punter.

[Mick F]

Do you eat white eggs Mick? If so, where do you get them from?

I prefer white eggs because they ALWAYS crack easier. No doubt, as has been pointed out, that there are exceptions.
There's exceptions to everything eh?

As for where we buy them, we invariably buy them from either our favourite farm-shop, or Morrisons in Tavistock.
The farm-shop eggs tend to be a "variety pack" sort of thing. In some half-dozens there may be a white one or two.
Morrisons sometimes sell white eggs and the packs say "white" on them. Only seen them there once or twice over the last year or so but if we saw them again, we'd buy them like a shot.

The pickled eggs I started off yesterday, are getting nicely coloured from the spiced malt vinegar.

Believe me, I wouldn't have a picked egg like the sort you buy in pubs or chippies for all the tea in China. Horrid things ................ but do them in spiced (pickled onion flavour) malt vinegar, and there's no contest.

[Mick F]

YUM!

[Mick F]

I wondered if someone would crack that joke!

Honestly, if you have eaten your pickled onions, put some peeled hard-boiled eggs in there for a week or two.