Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Eggshells

I love eggs. I eat them almost everyday for breakfast, but I treasure the eggshells just as much. I keep a container by the stove and every time I crack an egg the shell gets tossed inside. My son is not too keen on on my container. Last time he left to go back to school he exclaimed how happy he would be not to have to put shells into the container. The container was mostly full. OK it was overflowing. He would try to put a shell in and it and several others would topple out onto the counter.

I like to cook my eggshells before they go out into the garden. It makes me think I won't be contaminating my garden with salmonella. It also dries them out and makes them easier to work with. But I won't heat up my oven just for eggshells and I have a tenancy to forget to put them in the oven when I'm in the middle of cooking something. So the eggshell containers would overflow.

After the umpteenth time the mountain of eggshells toppled over, I decided I had to change my ways. Now when the container is full, another glass container comes out and the shells are put in that and stuck in the cold oven. They sit there until the oven is used. This way I never forget to cook them up. This morning I was making a squash casserole and cooked my shells. BTW never cook eggshells for very long. Ten minutes seems fine. Longer can make your kitchen really stinky.

When I cooled down my eggshells I prepared to put them in their next container for storage - a double ziplock bag. I double it because the eggshells go in fairly whole and I can crush them through the plastic. Once layer means bits of eggshell on the floor, but two seem to keep them contained while crushing. Today this container was full. This only happens a couple of times a year. It was time to deal with them.

Years ago I put them in the garden or compost just roughly crushed like this, but I really hate the look of half crushed shells. They look really ugly in the soil. So I started to powder them in my food processor (warning do this will cloud your hopper, the eggshells are harder than plastic). I not only liked the aesthetics of this but found they worked better.

I use eggshells mostly to fertilize my tomatoes. I put at least a cup of powdered shells in each planting hole. Tomatoes love calcium and eggshells have a lot. It helps the tomatoes grow and helps prevent blossom end rot. In addition if I'm still having trouble with BER, I make eggshell tea. I put a cup of eggshells into a quart of water and let them steep for 2-3 days. Warning: this smells vile so keep it outside. Then I dilute it and use it to water the tomatoes. It works really well.

So now I have about six pounds of crushed eggshell for the garden next spring. You can't beat free fertilizer.

33 comments:

  1. Great advice! I do soft boiled eggs mostly so think I can forgo the baking process. Powdering them in a food processor is a great idea! ;>)

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  2. You do eat a lot of eggs. I've managed to accumulate about a pound of shells since last May. My collection is under the kitchen sink and I use a blender to powder them.

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  3. I may have to look for a food processor or blender at a tag sale this summer. Good idea, Daphne.

    I have never thought about contamination from salmonella through the eggshells. I compost all of mine, but I don't know if the compost gets hot enough to kill the salmonella virus. Hmmm, I'll have to do some reading.

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  4. Having suffered through the aroma of burnt egg shells while baking them, I now boil mine. Then I put them out in the sun to dry before turning them into a powder in a coffee bean grinder. I also grind up any old calcium tablets or expired vitamins, and keep the entire mixture in a jar for use in the tomato garden.

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  5. I had major BER problems last year, this is good idea, we'll have to eat more eggs :)

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  6. This is great advice! I fully admit to just tossing the raw egg shell halves into the compost bin. I wonder if the deep freeze of winter is enough to kill any bad viruses?

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  7. Interesting post, Daphne. You are so smart!

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  8. I must admit I just put the shells straight into the compost, I never thought about salmonella!

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  9. Mine just go into the compost piles, because my wife wouldn't let me bake them - i'm sure.

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  10. I've never thought of the salmonella angle. I have a bag of egg shells under my sink. When they are used, I set them aside on top of my compost can to dry out and then go into a big bag. Every so often I crunch the bag so that I can fit more in.

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  11. Never thought of salmonella either. Mine go in the compost, but putting some aside for specific uses is a great idea.

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  12. Now that is alot of eggshells. Your garden should be BER free this year!

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  13. What a great idea. I've been meaning to save my eggshells but haven't. Now I have no excuse not to.

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  14. I don't usually cook my eggshells, but like you, I do usually have a mountain of egg shells next to the sink. My family hates it too but they're used to it. Doesn't stop them from complaining though.

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  15. Oh shoot... I need to collect my eggshells!

    And to think of the wonderful pile that I could have amassed since the fall.... darn!

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  16. I have used roughly crushed eggshells to edge beds in an attempt to discourage slugs and snails. Not really sure if it works or I have just been lucky with not too much damage from those critters, but I too did not consider the salmonella angle! Will have to figure out if it's worth the hassle to bake and possibly stink up the house! Thanks for the great tips.

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  17. To All, I just want to say that I don't know that salmonella is a problem. I would guess it wouldn't survive the compost pile, but I have no clue. I haven't researched the issue. I just do it because I don't know and it doesn't take much extra effort. BTW if anyone has researched it let us know.

    Carol, The funny thing is that I made some hard boiled eggs for deviled eggs and I tossed them in the overflowing egg container too. I really should have just kept them out since they were already cooked.

    Michelle, I do eat a lot of eggs. I easily go through a dozen every week. When I'm baking a lot, like over the holidays, I go through so many dozen.

    henbogle, let us know if you figure it out. I'll probably keep baking them since it dries them out so well for crushing, but it would be nice to know.

    Granny, lol yes it is pretty bad. I always set the timer for ten minutes then add more for the rest of what is cooking after they are done. Grinding up calcium tablets (or vitamins for minerals) is probably a good idea, but I never have any extra. They all get taken before they expire.

    mac, it is a good excuse to eat eggs :>

    suburbanfarmonline, I haven't a clue as to how long salmonella stick around.

    Barbee, thanks

    Jan, I think most people just throw them into the compost. I'm wondering if it is an issue or not. It seems if so many people do it, we would have had a lot of outbreaks if it really were a problem.

    EG, luckily my husband has no say in the matter. I own the kitchen. Though he does do the dishes, he still considers it mine.

    The Mom, I get a strange joy out of crunching eggshells. It is kind of like squishing bubble wrap.

    miss m, if you haven't used them on your tomatoes before, I suggest you try it. You can put them on some and not on others to see how they work. I even find a difference between the powdered and crushed versions.

    Dan, I hope so. I usually get a little. I need to quit using dolomite limestone which has too much magnesium in it. The other plants like it but the tomatoes don't.

    Thomas, They are garden gold. You can't beat them for their calcium content (though I do use bone meal too).

    Wendy, I'm glad I'm not the only crazy one.

    Toni, you can always start today.

    Karen, I've tried to edge beds with them to help discourage the slugs. It never holds up for long. I think the first few days it works OK, but then they invade anyway.

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  18. Good Points :) I will have to try.

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  19. What a great idea. I have been just throwing them into our compost pile with the rest of my scraps. I will start saving them now just for tomatoes! This will be very handy for when my chicks start laying.

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  20. That is good advice. I used to bake and powder for dog biscuits. . . I guess I should stop rough-crushing them and tossing them into the compost. I don't mind the look, and it's so fast, but I bet they're not getting a lot of calcium into the soil.

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  21. What a coincidence. I just started series on how calcium (and other nutrients) gets into the soil and thence into the vegetables and thence into us, and the chicken, and finally the eggshell. It was good fun discovering what "CEC" means, and other terms on my soil test. It gets a bit technical, what with all the chemistry, but not being a chemist, or even scientist myself, I tried to make it simple without skipping any of the magical bits!
    The series starts here: http://blog.bolandbol.com/2010/01/16/calcium-soil-compost/

    BTW I also garden in Mass, in the neighborhood of Rte 128.

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  22. Hi Daphne, you are so funny! What a lot of unnecessary work, it seems to me. We keep the shells in a plastic tub in the shed where they can dry out well. Them smash them with a gloved fist. Very good for letting off steam, if you know what I mean. The tomatoes do love these shells and it has been written that they will deter slugs. They don't. But they do provide that nice calcium. Six pounds is impressive, however you crush them. :-)
    Frances

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  23. From what little I know about Salmonella, it is not much of a risk. Multiple eggs would need to be contaminated to make you sick on raw eggs, so I assume composted eggs would be just fine. I give my shells a quick rinse, but that is all.

    Then again, maybe compost conditions are just what the dreaded S. would need to thrive. I also use farm fresh eggs more often than not and I often wonder if that is a more or less sanitary shell!?!

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  24. I am in real admiration of the beautiful end product of finely crushed egg shells you end up with! I do the lazy person's method and just compost them. I do crush them before tossing them into my kitchen compost container but they do end up as big pieces in the compost pile for the most part. I generally do not mind them but occassionally I get a bunch on the surface of the soil from a batch of rough compost and just have to take the hoe to them to chop them up a bit! LOL!

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  25. NoviceLife, thanks

    Lauren Drury, I wish I had my own chickens too, but that is not to be right now.

    Stefaneener, I had never thought about giving them to my dog when she was still around. I have heard of people making their own calcium supplements from them.

    Katrien, well my degree is in chemistry. I've never been a working chemist, but I still understand a lot of it.

    fairegarden, I suppose if I got out my boxing gloves and started beating on them I could crush them well enough for me. Nah it is faster just to use my food processor ;>

    Kelly, I use farm eggs too. If you look close enough you will see the multiple colors, including green in the shell.

    kitsapFG, I used to do that too. lol I actually had some in my compost whole since the chef at my DH's work gave me a box of compostable things and it had lots of shells in it. When I turned the pile over I kept whacking them with my fork to try to break them up.

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  26. What a great idea! We go through eggs like nobody's business around here (my 4 year old has decided they are the only acceptable food in the world) and I have TONS of shells. And I'm attempting to grow tomatoes in pots, so this will be perfect to try.

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  27. okay, I get it now; I asked the question about the eggshells on your kitchen sink article at Rhonda's but found the answer here. Great idea, I might just try this too!

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  28. Kalena Michele, your welcome

    Expat Mom, I grew some of my tomatoes in pots last year and it worked great with the eggshells. I eat a lot of eggs too. I eat them everyday.

    shandora, I looked for your question there but when I looked it wasn't posted yet. I'll have to look again.

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  29. Interesting. I have never thought of powdering them out, I believe this is very effective.

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  30. The bakery beside our house has tons of eggshells that they throw daily..I think, I have a good idea how to make them really useful now.

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  31. My mother has the same practice..using eggshells for a variety of reasons.

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  32. Eggshells are really full of nutrients..no wonder it is used for plants to provide vitamins.

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