Dehydrating eggs?

[hikingfish]

Hi All,
Quick question to all the dehydrator people out there: I want to dehydrate some eggs. Has anyone tried before? I'm assuming I'm better off making scrambled eggs and then dehydrating those...right?

Thanks!

Fish

 

[pilgrim]

I want to dehydrate some eggs. Has anyone tried before?

I have not, but I can quote someone who has:

From Trail Food: Drying and Cooking Food for Backpackers and Paddlers by Alan S. Kesselheim:

Drying: "Eggs are the main dairy product worth the trouble of drying. Again, high fat content is a concern, so minimize the time spent handling and processing. Break the desired number of raw eggs into a bowl (I do eight on a tray) and beat them together. Add spices if you'd like before pouring onto the tray insert. Set at fairly high heat (140°F) until the surface is dry and crumbly to the touch."

Storing: "Meat and eggs should, if possible, be kept in a freezer until you depart."

Rehydrating: "...soak your scrambled eggs in cold water."

 

[trailbiscuit]

Interesting...I haven't tried it, but I'm sure you can dehydrate them. I'm just not certain you'd want to eat them afterward. I just don't see them returning to an edible consistency. Let us know how it works!

 

[keepin' on]

gross and nasty

having eaten re-hydrated dehydrated eggs (powdered eggs actually, I’m assuming that they are one in the same), you don't want to eat them......bring lots of cheese to make them edible. Even with tons of cheese they still taste like sawdust! They are great to thicken a soup or to richen some hash brown potatoes but pretty nasty all by their lonesome.

 

[Nessmuk]

having eaten re-hydrated dehydrated eggs (powdered eggs actually, I’m assuming that they are one in the same), you don't want to eat them......bring lots of cheese to make them edible. Even with tons of cheese they still taste like sawdust! They are great to thicken a soup or to richen some hash brown potatoes but pretty nasty all by their lonesome.

I respectfully disagree!
But first, I dehydrate a good deal of food for backpacking, not just for myself but also for a guide's training course I teach, so I have a bit of experience in the home-dehydrating craft. In everything I have ever read or heard, for health reasons raw eggs are the one thing you don't want to fool around with dehydrating. I make a number of recipes that include cooked fresh eggs in the mix before dehydrating, including scrambled (as with potatoes and other such things), but I never deydrate them raw without cooking.

Powdered eggs got a very bad reputation from old military G.I. stories. My experience with today's commercially powdered eggs is quite different from the above post. I use whole egg powder I order from King Arthur Flour with great success. I use the powder in trail cooked recipes that call for eggs. Or, scrambled with a little bit of seasoning, the folks I serve them to think they look and taste quite close to fresh. I don't think they are just being polite. You do need to get the amount of water right when you mix them, and there is a trick to avoid making lumps that can ruin the result.

 

[hikingfish]

having eaten re-hydrated dehydrated eggs (powdered eggs actually, I’m assuming that they are one in the same), you don't want to eat them......bring lots of cheese to make them edible. Even with tons of cheese they still taste like sawdust! They are great to thicken a soup or to richen some hash brown potatoes but pretty nasty all by their lonesome.

The main reason I want to bring eggs is to make pancakes on our summit day! We have only 6 km and +100m elevation gain (no packs), so we should have some spare time in the morning!

Unfortunately, I haven't found anywhere in Montreal that sells dehydrated eggs (MEC used to have some, but not anymore). I'd rather purchase powdered eggs than make them.

Fish

 

[Nessmuk]

The main reason I want to bring eggs is to make pancakes on our summit day! We have only 6 km and +100m elevation gain (no packs), so we should have some spare time in the morning!

Unfortunately, I haven't found anywhere in Montreal that sells dehydrated eggs (MEC used to have some, but not anymore). I'd rather purchase powdered eggs than make them.

Fish

Powdered eggs will work perfectly fine in pancakes. Make a paste first with a little bit of water to avoid lumps, keep stirring while slowly adding the full measure of water. After that combine with pancake flour just like using fresh eggs. Order from King Arthur Flour's online catalog and you'll have a package in a couple of days. You'll find egg powder at a number of other online bulk dry food sites as well, I've only tried KAF.

 

[sleeping bear]

I've dehydrated scrambled eggs before and it's awful. I don't reccomend it AT ALL. After 2 hours in a pan of water they were still hard nuggets that looked like popcorn.

I've never had powdered eggs, but would like to try them. With some cheese and other stuff they can't be too bad. Freeze dried eggs are good too. Mountainhouse makes some with bacon that I have had and are excellent.

There's always fresh eggs too, although probably not this time of year.

 

[Pete_Hickey]

I haven't dehydrated my own eggs, but I have eaten 'dried' scramble egg mix, or whatever it is called. The first time was about 30 years ago, and I vowed never to eat them again.

Several years ago, I broke that vow, when my girlfriend got me a pack. I was amazed at the imporovements in the dried egg technology over the past 30 years. It is important that you measure carefully, though. Much more important than it is with other types of 'instant' meals.

As for the pancakes. Why not get the 'just add water mix' It already has the eggs and stuff in it. MUCH easier.

 

[Stan]

The aroma and sizzle of fresh eggs and bacon on a crisp mountain morning certainly is inviting, dehydrated stuff is not. There is precooked bacon that travels well but I've never tried packing eggs in any form except one, pancake batter. I'm a slave to good food having been spoiled by one grandmother who owned a popular mill town restaurant and another who cooked farm fresh ingredients for a large family on her wood stove.

My pankcake batter consists of two eggs and 2 cups of butter milk deeply chilled and stored in a thermos. Adding a little olive oil or vegetable oil will help prevent it from sticking to the pan but I always carry a small container of olive oil for all meals. The liquid mixture will last a day or two and could possibly be adapted to scrambled eggs.

The flour mixture consists of whole unbleached flour (2 c), wheat germ (1/4 c), oatmeal (1/4 c), baking soda (2 tsp) and powder (1tbsp) and whatever else I can conjure up at home or on the trail (dried cranberries, walnuts, blueberries). I mix these ingredients in a large freezer bag and at breakfast, pour the contents of the thermos into the freezer bag and shake. These quantities will serve 2-4, depending upon the appetites and any sides people bring.

Add the bacon, coffee and you have the makings of a late start on that day's hike but, who cares, we have headlamps and spare batteries and our destination is dinner!

P.S. Don't forget the maple syrup. Decant it in a plastic container, it's lighter and more packable.

 

[LittleBear]

Stan wrote:

The aroma and sizzle of fresh eggs and bacon on a crisp mountain morning certainly is inviting, dehydrated stuff is not. There is precooked bacon that travels well but I've never tried packing eggs in any form except one, pancake batter.

I have often backpacked with real eggs (especially in colder weather since they will keep longer). What I do is break them open into a ziplock bag and then double bag it. Of course, there's the possibility that the eggs will "scramble" themselves a bit while you are carrying them, so you may not be able to cook them over easy, but I usually stir them up (still in the bag), add some salsa, curmbled bacon (or cut up pieces of ham), and a handful of cheese, and then place the whole baggie into a pot of boiling water, stirring occasionally while they cook. It takes about 5 or so minutes, and 'cause you keep them in the baggie, there's no mess to clean up afterwards.

 

[keepin' on]

those last two posts made lunch seem inadequate....

I think I’ve been cooking with Pete’s 30 year old powdered eggs….it sounds like I might have been measuring incorrectly; Nessmunk, care to share your powdered scrambled egg recipe?

 

[Nessmuk]

those last two posts made lunch seem inadequate....

I think I’ve been cooking with Pete’s 30 year old powdered eggs….it sounds like I might have been measuring incorrectly; Nessmunk, care to share your powdered scrambled egg recipe?

Nothing very special about the recipe, but I'll reiterate that you do have to measure the amount of water correctly, adding a little at a time to completely avoid lumps. One of my favorite ways to prepare the eggs in scrambled form is to start at home by sautéing onions and peppers in a small amount of olive oil, sometimes I'll also cook in some frozen mixed veggies along with my favorite seasonings. This gets dehydrated and bagged. For on trail breakfast I rehydrate the dry veggies by barely covering with a little water in a pan, letting it soak for 15-20 minutes while I go do something else. Dehydrated cooked ground beef can be added at this step too. Then turn on the heat, when most of the excess water has evaporated add a few drops of olive oil if needed, and the powdered egg mixture. Scramble 'til done, top with grated cheese. I challenge you to declare the result is wildly different from freshly cracked eggs.

By the way, the dehydrated veggies take up very little space and weigh next to nothing but add tremendous flavor and texture to other recipes. For example... If you rehydrate them and add instant (or home dehydrated) mashed potatoes along with maybe some ground beef you have an excellent filling dinner. You can lighten up the heavy potatoes by adding some instant stuffing mix. One pot of heaven without cooking (except for boiling water). No clean up either if you mix and eat from a plastic freezer bag.

 

[Neil]

I have fried bacon at home (good bacon, sliced thick to order) until 90% done the way I like it, pouring off the fat and freezing it in a ziplock. It's quick and easy to fry it up on the trail and there's no fat to get rid of. It tastes fine. Also, you can crack your eggs into one of those 4 oz or 8 oz Nalgenes insted of bagging them.

 

[trailbiscuit]

There is precooked bacon that travels well

Absolutely! This stuff is some good. Just don't plan on it lasting very long.

 

[BorealChickadee]

I prefry my bacon all year round to go camping and for the pack. Even if it's just an overnighter at the trailhead you've got quick bacon and eggs. Crack the eggs and throw the bacon in next to them in the pan to heat up. Precooked bacon is great trail snack food also. Pick up a little package of mayo from a fast food joint, take a few slices of bread and you've got instant bacon sandwich on a peak.

Go for the bacon without preservatives and you'll never go back to all the big commercial brands. I get Coleman's at Price Chopper, no preservatives and actually smoked iwth real hickory smoke.

But I carry my eggs in their shells in an egg holder. Eggs in shells will last several days at room temperature without spoiling. Cracked eggs start spoiling the same day.

 

[Pete_Hickey]

Go for the bacon without preservatives and you'll never go back to all the big commercial brands. [/QUOTE ]Yep. I get mine from the butcher at the local market. Sliced to my liking (thick). Nothing but a bit of salt and smoked over a real fire/smoke. Always better when you know the name of the farmer who produces it.

But I carry my eggs in their shells in an egg holder. Eggs in shells will last several days at room temperature without spoiling.

Especially if they are fresh. Same thing with my eggs. I know the farmer who 'grows' them.