DRIED EGGS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 206, 25 May 1908, Page 3

DRIED EGGS.

IMPORTANT YOUNG INDUSTRY. A';:' '• '■ [•■: '. .... ,• THE-PROCESS EXPLAINED. . . Fresh eggs aro still,retailing in Wellington at from 2s. lOd. to Bs. 3d. a dozen. This is an excellent circumstance for farmers, who have fowls that lay, but it is bad for those farmers, whose fowls woa't lay, and for. the ordinary citizens who have to forego, their treasured breakfasts of eggs and bacon... Tho only/ray of hopo. that can be offered to these forlorn peoplo 'comes in the shape of powdered dried '.eggs,: which' cost a,''price : equivalent to about yd, per dozen. A powder that looks exactly like crumbled : cheese, is certainly\a peculiar substitute for a:riewrlaid egg, but it is said; to ;be' good for cookery,', and •it .is" tho best/.on offer. '.Tho. following; clipped from J' The Indian Trade Journal," gives W clear idea.. r 6f. tHe'drying' process:— l v.: U.S. A..." Consul ..Thomas H. Norton, in a report;..fropi .Chemnitz, -[states: [that much interest is felt among Gorman chemists charged with'.'food: investigation over" the reported, dogreo of.sucqoss which"has attended- efforts to preserve eggs by desiccation; :This leads him to furnish ,the information' The .process was: invented ,by a chemist of Victoria, Australia'. The (results obtained havo been- .so" saiisfactbry that .the Farmers' 'and ..Settlers' . Co-opera'tire. Society, ofSydney, . has .'erected an.: extensive plant .for the manufacture, on: a large scale, of egg powder. "The process is as.simple a one in. principle as that' of■ preserving fruit',by .sealing, it ljer-. mecically:,at a .h'6iling;'iemperature or of, pdsteurising milk.-. Eggs, the shells, are '.dried,/ at ; the ; relatively,'. low. temperature of '54.5 degrees C. .(130: degrees'-F.).- The. operation [can'be rapidly executed, in contairiers;kept.at'.this;teinperatur6 from .wliich the air has been exhausted,' and from.-which likewise, .the; aqueous' vapour is. withdrawn., as. fast[.[[as .given 'off by, evaporation from 'tho eggs.. • :■ : . ■ '•

.j'.'lThe advantage of, this method consists in / the :fact-,that!,:there ~is.'-no in the chemical composition of the eggs. ;■ Thero is /simply ! of'the greater part of ./the water/hejd 'mechanically in combination as when'fruit" is dried. :ty free; exposure to the ■air- , ; m6re : rapid 'artificial! ! methods.,:V When thoroughly : desiccated 1 and brought by •pulverisation' , into" tlie state' of coarso.'powdcr, "the egg material can bo preBorved'for an indefinite, period in. ordinary, packages, if kept, in a dry place. ;'!; , eggs are reconstituted' by 'tlio simple, addition of'.water'to the. dry ...powder,' tlie re-, sultant mass', being > quite "indistinguishable froihgnowly' /beaten-up . .'eggs.! , Before :the method was '.accepted- as. a! basis' fo'rindus'trialexploitationjv it was/submitted t-o' oxhaus'tive. critical tests by .the: Victorian Department of Agriculture,which, demonstrated that,'purity,- ea'se. of digestion,/.Javour,!, etc., were .entirely unaffected,hy the operations of desiccation, .rpreserYatidn , for .'. a long" period,' and'_reconstitution;.by:.the addition of -watoi - , .thajt ; fresh jeggs .were employed! at the outset. : This'latest/novelty in the;processes of.irisuring the inexpensive and he'alth.f ul preservation of staplei ■ articles 1 of/ popular diet'forms' a welcome! addition to those al- ; highly'valued,.-such freezing of-iresh meat, the evaporation .of fruits,' and the desiccation of milk;/...--

•V."From .the ; economic/standpoint jt'is evident ;that tho cost' of eggs: as an ; article, of food will be notably, i reduced- when - large tracts, in romoto Regions are' utilised for . the -. purpose /of poultry; raising., An important factor . would be the low/.cost of freight , for a compact powdered- material, as contrasted 'wjth tho ,expeMe ; of ._tjan'spoijfcing,Leggs r in ; the .natural Jragilo'/oonditionj-ccintaining Ji per cont.j of water ai'd., involving much' waste fsp'ace in;packing. ..' Equally important would be ; ihe. : certainty securing egg " meat ■■guar"ahtded as . prepared." from: absolutely fresh; material. ,-;-Tne simplicity of preservation and .!thOi;ease/:^ith»,which'"£L'i'yanetyV,of-savoury dishes : can . be> r expeditiously : from' eggs enhance 'the value ,of 'such' a food, preparation! not only for, the ordinary, household', /but also .for the emergencies, of travel."