Freezing eggs what's your secret

[Amerman]

HI all
My post on have you bought Amerman eggs turned into a couple people giving hints for freezing eggs, when someone asked some questions about how long eggs will keep. I wanted to share what was being said with everyone not reading that post. since I know everyone wants to keep thier eggs nice and nothing worse than loosing quality bait.

from Chumsalmon
here's a little tip for freazing eggs (cured ones)and (if you don't have a vacume packer) put them in a jar, caning jars work good, and before you put the lid on light a little piece of paper on fire throw it in the jar and screw down the lid, the paper will burn up any excess oxygen in the jar and a lot of the time will even seal the lid down on the jar. keeps the eggs from getting a frezzer burn.

My hint
Thanks for the great tip. It works well when doing jars. Using a match, sticking it straight up out of the eggs, then burning the striking end with another match as you put the lid on will also work great. Another way I usually recommend to people who buy eggs is save all the extra juice off the eggs after curing them or before you use them. Then when you freeze the eggs you want to keep for the next year, pour the juice back over the eggs. So I would use the same jar and freeze it and the eggs. Once the eggs are frozen, I would pour the juice over the top of the eggs, then put the lid back on the jar. This will seal the eggs in better than vacuum packing or doing the match/paper in the jar trick as now no air at all can get to the eggs.

From Bait o' eggs
Another trick is to put a little of the extra juice in with the eggs, or over fill a container so some of the eggs smash/break when you force the lid on, and put the eggs in the fridge or freezer in the upside down position. The juice will run down around the lid and seal it. Leave them upside down so the seal wont dry out, kind of like storing wine on its side so the cork wont dry out.

My hint for vacuum packing
Another tip for freezing eggs is if you have a vacuum packer. The best way I know to vacuum pack eggs for freezing is to freeze them first before you vacuum pack them. You can do this a number of ways. You can freeze them on a hard surface such as a cookie sheet. Another way is to freeze them in the bag you will vacuum pack them in. You must keep the bag upright for this manner. Another way is to put them in a small bag for freezing then vacuum pack the small bag of eggs, bag and all inside your larger vacuum pack bag. Just more hints on freezing eggs.

Do you have a secret that works for you?
Thanks Scott Amerman
Amerman Eggs

[dogfishboy]

My secret is to bag freezing and buy good eggs from you when needed [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]. Always seems to work...and no freezer burn. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

The pre-freeze then vaccum seal method has worked fine for me over the years. No containers to hassle with, clean, or save etc..

[Master Baiter]

I pack mine in damp borax, with or without a vacuum sealer. The moisture greatly retards the drying (freezer burn) and the borax makes the eggs easier to handle when fishing them with no loss of milking quality. The vacuum seal in the canning jar is fool proof though.

Thomas

[CHUMSALMON]

master baiter brought up a good point there about the borax, i always pack mine in borax and do the old fire trick, thought i should mention that.

on another note about the vacume packer, try this one with hearing, try thawing out a package of hearing and then put them in a vacume packer bag with your secret sauce mix (i'm not gonna tell ya mine) and seal em in there tight, it may look like that juice is being sucked out but (i think) it really acts like a sponge when you open the bag again, it'll suck that juice right into the hearing, now you've got your secret sauced up hearing! I could be wrong but i swear it works, i've trolled a hearing for over an hour before and pulled it back up and it looks like the Valdez oil slick still comming off of it!

[willierower]

The poor mans vaccum sealer.
Use high quality freezer bags. Size doesnt much matter. Fill the bag 1/3 to 1/2 full with your unfrozen cured eggs.
The trick. Fill your kitchen sink with cold water, or use a 5 gallon bucket. Close the zipper on the freezer bag almost all the way. Slowly submerge the bag in the water so the water pressure forces out the air. When most of the bag is under water and most of the air is out of the bag, finish closing the zipper. Now take the bag of eggs and place it inside another freezer bag and force the air out of it with the water also. Now wrap the double bagged eggs with freezer paper, label and freeze.
Ive kept eggs for 2 years without freezer burning using this little trick.

[Sliderite]

I use a vacuum sealer(Foodsaver) which has an attachment for wide mouth jars. The vacuum sealer is almost a must-have and you will never regret buying one. I let my eggs reabsorb most of the juice during the curing process which may take more than two days. The wet eggs are not as prone to freezer burn and can be dried out before use if needed. I pour off most of the remaning juice from the cured eggs and pack wet in pint or quart jars to the near top of the jar. Vacuum seal and freeze.

[smilesforu]

Willierower I do the same vacuum trick before freezing. Then I microwave them to thaw just before heading out. I use the ziploc heavy duty freezer bags in the quart size. I don't like to use glass because of possible breakage on the river. I recommend labeling when you put your eggs in the freezer so you know what kind of fish and when you did them up.

I thought I posted this before going to work tonight...did I get censored?
Tight Lines

[Master Baiter]

Another poor mans vacuum seal: Use a straw to suck [img]images/icons/blush.gif[/img] the air out of the zip lock bag while sealing.

[ 07-19-2001: Message edited by: Master Baiter ]

[HORNBLOWER]

I have always used borax on my eggs. After curing, I put them in a plastic freezer container---with eggs fully covered with borax (bottom, sides & top). Freeze it. Then with lid of container slightly open, vacume pack the container. Date the container. Then, for additional insurance against freezer-burn,place container in a zip-lock gallon bag (can put two quarts to a bag), and place back in freezer. I have kept them for two years this way.
...never have tried it with dampened borax, however. Thanks, Master Baiter, for the hint. I can see where dampened borax would tend to further protect the eggs from drying out.