Wilderbeast asked for this thread on making powdered eggs at home, so here ya go.
These were eggs I've been storing for up to 7 months, and I needed to preserve them some way. I cracked each egg into a glass to make sure they were still good. I was able to get about 2 dozen in the blender at a time.
That made a nice smooth batter to pour into the dehydrator trays. Each of these fruit roll up trays holds the liquid of a dozen eggs:
The initial drying time was 165F degrees for 6 hours to kill any bacteria. The temp was lowered to 110F for the next 24 hours. Eggs are oily, and need thorough drying. When they were done, I transferred them to a bowl.
From there they went back into the blender. Mine can grind flour from grain, so it powdered the eggs easily. You could use a food processor, too. After the second trip through the blender, the eggs were ready to store.
I decided to vacuum bag them instead of using a canning jar. Less chance of them getting damaged. So here's the finished product. Eight dozen eggs in these two bags.
Review:I decided to use the raw egg method because I wanted egg powder, not reconstituted scrambled eggs.
I started out with 4 dozen eggs. I whipped them up just as I would to cook scrambled eggs. I have the equivalent of a Garden Master food dehydrator with a thermostat control. I also have the 'fruit roll up tray liners' that come with the machine.
It turned out that 1 dozen scrambled eggs would exactly fill one tray. I took the four filled trays and turned the dehydrator up to 165 F to kill any nasties in the raw eggs. I left them at 165 F for about 3 hours. At that point, I turned it down to 115 F and dried the trays for about 18 hours. When I checked them, they were still a little oily, so I let them go for another 6 hours.
After they were dried, I crumbled them into a blender. I have a Vita-Mix blender that I use to grind wheat, rice and barley flour. It has a pulse capability, and a "reverse" setting on it. I ground up the eggs the same way I would whole grains, by pulsing the blades, and reversing them each time. I didn't want to just turn it on and let it go, because the heat generated by the friction with the blades could 'cook' the eggs. The ratio turned out to be 2 parts egg powder, 3 parts water.
Out of 4 dozen eggs, I ended up with 1 quart of product, about the consistency of corn meal. Now for the test!
I reconstituted the eggs in warm water. I wanted them the runny, like thin pancake batter. The tendency is to use too little water, but think about how 'runny' a fresh egg is. I let them rehydrate for about 15 minutes, and then added a splash more water. They looked surprisingly like whipped, fresh eggs.
I poured them into a hot skillet and stirred them as they cooked. Whoa! They LOOKED like scrambled eggs. Taste test. Whoa! They even TASTED like scrambled eggs! Full flavor, and a whole lot better than any commercial powdered eggs I've ever eaten, including Egg Beaters.
The experiment was a success, and I have another 8 dozen scheduled for the same treatment. I would say the secret for frying powdered eggs is to get the mixture thin enough, whip a bunch of air into it with a fork, or whisk, and stir them in the pan. If you just plop in a glob of thick paste, you're gonna get an egg pancake that doesn't taste like either eggs, or pancakes.
P.S.I ultimately dehydrated 16 dozen eggs. At the time, we had 45 dozen back logged. This turned out to be a viable way to preserve the harvest, and quality.
