We have experimented with the powdered eggs in our food storage, to see if we like them. Recently, I spoke with Tom Sciacca of campingsurvival.com about a product they carry called OvaEasy Whole egg Crystals. We love to try new things and see if they are worth adding to our food storage, and love to share our discoveries and opinions with all of you to help in your food storage selections.
Here is what we learned and discovered about OvaEasy Egg Crystals:
How they do it: OvaEasy Eggs are made with technology that keeps the egg’s nutrition and flavor intact. They gently evaporate the egg in a low temperature procedure which causes the water to evaporate leaving the whole egg crystals, hence the name, Egg Crystals. To reconstitute these Egg Crystals, just add water!
Flavor and Nutritional Value: Most powdered or freeze-dried eggs are processed using very high temperatures which causes nutrition loss, along with their fresh egg taste. Nutritional value is very important when it comes to food storage. I found these eggs to be full of flavor and very tasty. Their texture was light and fluffy, and I could not tell the difference between them and real eggs. I fed them to my family, without their knowledge of them being Crystal eggs, and they couldn’t tell the difference either. My youngest daughter who is ten said, and I quote, “Momma, these eggs are soooo good, can I have some more?” When I pulled out the bag and started to make more they all looked at me and asked what I was doing. When I told them they were eating crystal eggs they were astonished, but kept right on eating them.
Comparison: According to OvaEasy, their eggs have a shelf life of 7 years (see note at bottom of article) and will not lose their flavor, nutritional value and there will be no browning effects. Powdered eggs last 1 to 1 1/2 years before browning occurs. This is how the US Army Lab explains browning:
A lab analysis shows high levels of the molecules furasone, pyranose and pentosine. These molecules are by-products of ‘browning’ reactions (Maillard reactions) and other chemical reactions. These reactions severely degrade the nutritional value of the proteins in the egg powder.
A lot of academic research has been done on these browning reactions and they all show serious problems in nutrition and digestibility.
“The Maillard, or non-enzymatic browning reaction between reducing sugars and proteins is known to cause serious deterioration of the nutritional quality of foods during processing and storage.” Physiological, Toxicological, and Nutritional Aspects of Various Maillard Browned Proteins
“… browning reactions of amino acids and proteins with carbohydrates, oxidized lipids, and oxidized phenols cause deterioration of food during storage and processing. The loss in nutritional quality and potentially in safety is attributed to destruction of essential amino acids, decrease in digestibility, inhibition of proteolytic and glycolytic enzymes, interaction with metal ions, and formation of antinutritional and toxic compounds.”
Cost: At first glance, these eggs look a little expensive. After doing the math this is what I concluded. In our area a dozen eggs runs about $3.50 per dozen for large eggs. For 9 dozen eggs that works out to about $31.50, give or take with tax. For 8.88 dozen, OvaEasy Eggs cost $37.99. So that works out to be a little higher, but in my most honest opinion not having to refrigerate these eggs or go to the store every time I need a dozen eggs, makes the few extra dollars worth it.
Who uses these egg crystals: OvaEasy Eggs Crystal supply the US Army and navy with their product. They no longer use plain ole powdered eggs.
Uses: We made plain eggs, egg omelets, egg-cheese-ham bagel sandwiches, and I even used them to make cookies and a chocolate cake from food storage.
My Final Thoughts: We give these Egg Crystals 2 thumbs up! ♥ You can use them to make many different meals, and you can’t taste the difference between these and real eggs.
Keepin It Spicy,
The product in the #10 can has a 7 year shelf life. The product that comes in regular cases has a 2 1/2 year shelf life. The cans offer the product a double barrier and have oxygen absorbers in the can for any residual oxygen. The bags only have the bag as a barrier and no oxygen absorbers. The bags inside the cans should not have an expiration date on them, only the can should. The product in bags only should have an expiration date on the bag itself.
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One #10 can makes 8.8 dozen eggs. This can contains strictly egg crystals.
Two #10 cans makes 12 dozen eggs. Each can contains 6 pouches of 1 dozen eggs in each packet.
1.75 pound bag makes 6.25 dozen eggs.
4.5 ounce bag makes 1 dozen eggs. This is the best buy at $4.95 if your only wanting to sample the egg crystals.