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A powdered egg is a fully
Percy Keese Fitzhugh, Grosset & Dunlap, 1912, p. 219. Powdered eggs were used in the
A powdered egg is a fully dehydrated
In physiology, dehydration is a lack of total body water, with an accompanying disruption of metabolic processes. It occurs when free water loss exceeds free water intake, usually due to exercise, disease, or high environmental temperature. Mil ...
egg. Most powdered eggs are made using spray drying
Spray drying is a method of changing a dry powder from a liquid or slurry by rapidly drying with a hot gas. This is the preferred method of drying of many thermally-sensitive materials such as foods and pharmaceuticals, or materials which may requ ...
in the same way that powdered milk
Powdered milk, also called milk powder, dried milk, or dry milk, is a manufactured dairy product made by evaporating milk to dryness. One purpose of drying milk is to preserve it; milk powder has a far longer shelf life than liquid milk and d ...
is made. The major advantages of powdered eggs over fresh eggs are the reduced weight per volume of whole egg equivalent and the shelf life
Shelf life is the length of time that a commodity may be stored without becoming unfit for use, consumption, or sale. In other words, it might refer to whether a commodity should no longer be on a pantry shelf (unfit for use), or no longer on a ...
. Other advantages include smaller usage of storage space, and lack of need for refrigeration
The term refrigeration refers to the process of removing heat from an enclosed space or substance for the purpose of lowering the temperature.International Dictionary of Refrigeration, http://dictionary.iifiir.org/search.phpASHRAE Terminology, ht ...
. Powdered eggs can be used without rehydration when baking
Baking is a method of preparing food that uses dry heat, typically in an oven, but can also be done in hot ashes, or on hot stones. The most common baked item is bread but many other types of foods can be baked. Heat is gradually transferred ...
, and can be rehydrated to make dishes such as scrambled eggs
Scrambled eggs is a dish made from eggs (usually chicken eggs) stirred, whipped or beaten together while being gently heated, typically with salt, butter, oil and sometimes other ingredients.
Preparation
Only eggs are necessary to make scrambled ...
and omelette
In cuisine, an omelette (also spelled omelet) is a dish made from beaten eggs, fried with butter or oil in a frying pan (without stirring as in scrambled egg). It is quite common for the omelette to be folded around fillings such as chives, ...
s.
History
Dehydrated eggs advertisements appeared in the late 1890s in the United States. Powdered eggs appear in literature as a staple of camp cooking at least as early as 1912.''Along the Mohawk trail; or, Boy scouts on Lake Champlain''Percy Keese Fitzhugh, Grosset & Dunlap, 1912, p. 219. Powdered eggs were used in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and No ...
during World War II for rationing
Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resources being distributed on a particular ...
. Powdered eggs are also known as ''dried eggs'', and colloquially during the period of rationing in the UK, as ''Ersatz eggs''.
The modern method of manufacturing powdered eggs was developed in the 1930s by Albert Grant and Co. of the Mile End Road, London. The cake manufacturer was importing liquid egg from China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
and one of his staff realised that this was 75% water. An experimental freeze-drying
Freeze drying, also known as lyophilization or cryodesiccation, is a low temperature Food drying, dehydration process that involves freezing the product and lowering pressure, removing the ice by Sublimation (phase transition), sublimation. This ...
plant was built and tried. Then a factory was set up in Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bo ...
to process Chinese egg. As war approached, Grant transferred his dried egg facility to Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
. The British Government
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lifted the patent during the war and many other suppliers came into the market, notably in the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
. Early importers to the United States included Vic Henningsen Sr. and others in the United Kingdom.
Quality
Powdered eggs have a storage life of 5 to 10 years when stored without oxygen in a cool storage environment. The process of spray-drying eggs so as to make powdered eggs oxidizes the cholesterol, which has been shown to be helpful at reducing aortic atherosclerosis in animal trials.See also
* Food powder *List of dried foods
This is a list of dried foods. Food drying is a method of food preservation that works by removing water from the food, which inhibits the growth of bacteria and has been practiced worldwide since ancient times to preserve food. Where or when d ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Powdered Eggs Dried foods Eggs (food) Instant foods and drinksEggs
Humans and human ancestors have scavenged and eaten animal eggs for millions of years. Humans in Southeast Asia had domesticated chickens and harvested their eggs for food by 1,500 BCE. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especial ...