Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

PROVISIONS 189ger of breakage by carrying them frozen. Do nottry to boil a frozen egg: peel it as you would a hardboiledone, and then fry or poach.To test an egg for freshness, drop it into coldwater; if it sinks quickly it is fresh, if it stands onend it is doubtful, if it floats it is surely bad.To preserve eggs, rub them all over with vaseline,being careful that no particle of shell is uncoated.They will keep good much longer than if treatedwith lime water, salt, paraffine, water-glass or anyof the other common expedients.On hard trips it is impracticable to carry eggs inthe shell. Some campers break fresh eggs and packthem in friction-top cans. The yolks soon break,and they will keep but a short time. A good brandof desiccated eggs is the solution of this problem.It does away with all risk of breaking and spoiling,and reduces bulk and weight very much, as will beseen below.Desiccated eggs vary a great deal in quality accordingto material and process emplo3\"d. Condemnedstorage eggs have been used by unscrupulousmanufacturers, and so, it is said, have the eggs ofsea-fowl. I have tried some brands that w^ere uneatableby themselves, nor did they improve anydish I combined them with. On the other hand, Ihave had five or six years' experience with evaporatedeggs made by an Iowa firm which make excellentomelettes and scrambled eggs and are quiteequal to fresh ones in bakestuffs and for variousother culinary purposes. They are made fromfresh hens' eggs {ivhole, but with sometimes moreyolk added) by a strictly sanitary process. A i-lb.can, equal to about 3 dozen fresh eggs, measures6x3x3 inches and weighs i lb. 5 oz. gross. Itcosts little more than fresh eggs, and the powderwill never spoil if kept dry. Of course, it cannotbe used as fried, boiled, or poached eggs. Foromelettes, etc., the powder must soak about an hourin cold or lukewarm water before using; it can beused dry in mixing dough. Thanks to this inven*