Let's Talk Powdered Eggs...!

I am one of those strange folks that actually likes powdered eggs!

I don't know if it's because I ate them while I was in the service or what, but to me they taste just like real eggs...especially if they have lot's of black pepper and some hot sauce sprinkled on liberally!

With a side of bacon or ham, some flour gravy, and fresh biscuits and you have a great meal! I'm certainly not going to turn down a meal like this, that's for sure!

Anyway, I thought you might be interested in just how these eggs are processed, so I wanted to share the information with you. This information is courtesy of Steven Cyros at MREDepot. Good folks that I have dealt with before and have always been very satisfied!

Where did the idea come from, and how are they made today?

Powdered Whole Eggs (some times referred to as Spray-Dried Eggs or Dehydrated Eggs) have actually been around since the 1930's. They were developed by Albert Grant and Co of the Mile End Road - a cake manufacturer who was importing liquid eggs from China at the time. It was actually one of his staff that realized that the eggs were 95% water and therefore expensive to ship from the Orient. They built an experimental freeze drying plant and gave it a try. The end result after much trial and error was that a factory was ultimately set up in Singapore to process Chinese eggs.

As war approached Grant transferred his dried egg facility to Argentina. The patent was lifted by the British government during the war and many other suppliers came into the market, notably in the USA. Powdered eggs were used extensively throughout the Second World War for rationing and were widely used by troops in the field as well as at home during wartime shortages. They are actually still used by many restaurants today - not only in egg dishes, but especially in baking.

Today the process of creating powdered eggs has been simplified and is very cost effective compared to the earlier methods. The eggs are cracked and separated from their shell, then the liquid is pumped through hoses to the top of a large (50 to 70 foot tall) vacuum oven/chamber. Very fine nozzles spray a mist of eggs at the top of the tower, which is heated like an oven to pasteurize the eggs for safety, and the vacuum inside means that by the time the fine droplets of eggs reach the bottom of the chamber, it is in the form of a fine powder with an extremely low moisture content. Viola - Powdered or Spray Dried Whole egg.

The end result is an extremely safe product since it has been pasteurized immediately prior to drying, and the same motivation for their development is still the biggest selling feature - you don't have to pay to ship all of the water weight, and you get an extremely versatile product with a very long shelf life.

Again, thanks to Steven Cyros for the information. Always good to add to the information data bank, don't you think?

Coffee on the patio, weather permitting. A cold front is headed this way, but we should be OK until tomorrow.