Why Do We Need To Freeze Eggs?
You might be thinking about why do people even need to freeze eggs. There could be several reasons, but one of the main ones is definitely saving them for later. Many people have many dozens of eggs in their fridge, out of which several remain to be unused even after 4-5 weeks. If the eggs they have were bought fresh at the time, they might still be good to use for another week or so. However, in the case that they are not, the eggs can go bad. So, to preserve them for later use, we can try and freeze them.
Can You Freeze egg?
Now the question stands, can you freeze the egg or not? The answer is yes; you can freeze eggs. If you are confused about whether they taste the same or not, do not worry. They taste almost the same after thawing them.
Which Eggs Can You Choose To Freeze?
Unfortunately, not all types of eggs are freezable. There are certain types that you can not freeze. One of these types that you should not try to freeze is raw eggs in their shells.
It would be best if you did not do so because when you freeze them, the liquid yolk inside the egg starts growing, which can cause the shell of the egg to break. When this happens, the egg’s materials spoil and are at a slight risk of being contaminated by bacterias.
Another reason to avoid freezing raw eggs in their shell is that it ruins the texture. The egg yolks inside become quite thick, which is pretty bad for cooking and baking purposes after you thaw it.
Moreover, you cannot freeze soft or hard-boiled eggs as well. This is because if you do so, the egg whites can become quite watery when you thaw the egg.
So what eggs do you freeze? Well, here is a list of egg types that you can easily freeze.
List of egg types that you can freeze:
- Raw egg yolks
- Raw egg whites
- Whole eggs are taken out of their shell
- Egg dishes such as quiches
Advantages Of Freezing Eggs:
1. Saves Money:
You can save a lot of money by learning how to freeze eggs. Just purchase eggs in bulk when they go on sale, and you will see yourself saving a lot of money. You wouldn’t have to worry about the eggs expiring with freezing. So stock up on eggs and save some precious money.
2. Never run out of eggs:
Don’t you hate it when you want to eat an egg, and you open the fridge to find out that there are no eggs left. Well, by purchasing eggs in bulk and freezing them, you wouldn’t have to worry about such a problem. You will be able to bake a cake or fry an egg whenever you want.
3. Saves space:
Another great advantage of freezing eggs is that you will space a lot of space in your fridge. Instead of worrying about space for raw eggs in the fridge, you can store the frozen eggs in the freezer. This is quite a helpful thing for a lot of people.
4. Save time:
You can save yourself a lot of time by just freezing eggs. You wouldn’t have to go out to purchase eggs every time you had to bake or cook. You will have eggs prepared for cooking or baking ahead of time. This may seem like a tiny thing, but it saves a lot of time.
How Egg Whites And Yolks Are Affected By Freezing:
As we all know, eggs are made up of two different parts, egg whites and yolks. Both these parts are affected differently by freezing. Here’s how:
Texture changes:
Egg whites are made up of mostly protein and water. When they are frozen and thawed, there isn’t much of a noticeable difference in their texture after cooking. In fact, when raw egg whites are frozen and thawed, they gain foaming abilities, which are great for light baked goods. According to a study, one reason why this happens is due to some of the proteins in the egg whites losing their shape after freezing and thawing.
On the other hand, when raw egg yolks are frozen, they go through gelation. Gelation is the process that causes the raw egg yolks’ texture to become quite thick, almost like a gel. This can be avoided by simply putting in some sugar or salt before freezing the raw egg yolks. These egg yolks can also be frozen nicely by mixing them with the egg whites before freezing. This is especially good for dishes like scrambled eggs or baked goods.
Flavour changes:
Freezing will not affect how raw or cooked eggs taste unless there are any other materials added during the freezing process. For example, if there is any salt or sugar added before freeing egg yolk, it might taste a bit sour or sweet.
Different Methods To Freeze Eggs
You can freeze eggs in various methods. Even though the methods have different names, they all function pretty much the same way. Here are 4 different methods that you can use to freeze eggs.
The main method:
1. Gently scramble:
Begin this method by gently mixing and stirring the egg white and egg yolk together until they have successfully blended.
2. Adding sugar/ salt:
This is quite an important step. As discussed earlier, we need to add salt or sugar to stop the egg yolk from gelation. 1 teaspoon of sugar or salt per cup of eggs will be enough. Add sugar for dishes like desserts, cakes, etc. Add salt for dishes such as scrambled eggs—omelet, etc.
3. Freeze eggs:
Now that you have done all the mixing and adding stuff, all that remains is freezing and storing the eggs. Cover the eggs either in a muffin tray or an ice cube tray. Then freeze the tray for about 5-6 hours. Finally, store them in freezer containers.
4. Label the eggs:
This step is not compulsory. However, if you choose to do so, labelling the eggs will help you a lot. You can label the date of freezing, and whether it was salt, you added or sugar. And that’s it. You have now successfully frozen eggs for almost a year.
The old method:
A method that most people use to freeze eggs is very similar to the main method above. Everything is kept the same in this method, except that no sugar or salt is added before freezing the eggs. What this does is that it makes the egg yolk thicken a lot and thus changes the texture. As a result, you are unable to make fried eggs perfectly. Even though this method is still usable, the method above this is just miles better.
Egg yolk freezing method:
If you want to freeze the egg yolk instead of the whole egg, use this method. Stir the egg yolk a bit with a fork, and then add the same amount of sugar or salt as mentioned in earlier methods. Proceed to cover the egg yolk in a tray and then freeze it like the whole egg method. Egg yolks do not freeze as well as egg whites though.
Egg white freezing method:
Freezing egg whites is also just very similar to the egg yolk freezing method. All you have to do is beat the egg white with a fork and then cover it in trays when it’s stirred smoothly enough. Finally, package them and freeze them in the freezer containers. One great thing about freezing egg whites is that they whip better later on when they are thawed.
How To Thaw:
Finally, after you have frozen the eggs, thawing is all that remains. Here’s how you thaw eggs. To thaw, refrigerate the eggs in a container for 7-8 hours. You can also refrigerate the eggs overnight. Just be sure to use those eggs almost immediately. Do not delay much in using the eggs. You can also speed up the whole thawing process by placing the container in a big bowl of cold water. Egg whites can take a much longer time to get thawed. In any case, do not try to refreeze the eggs. If you do so, they will be ruined.
Is A Hard-Boiled Egg Freezable?
A lot of people may be thinking, can you freeze hard-boiled eggs or not. Whether a hard-boiled egg is freezable depends on whether you want to freeze the whole hard-boiled egg or just the egg white/ egg yolk. Freezing a whole hard-boiled egg is not possible. If you try to do so, the egg whites will turn quite watery after thawing them, and they will not have a great taste. You can, however, freeze the egg yolks of a hard-boiled egg and use it for some toppings later on.
Freeze Hard Boiled Eggs Yolks:
To freeze hard-boiled egg yolks, you will have to separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and then cook the egg yolks. You can use the egg yolks in salads or as toppings in other dishes. Here’s how you can freeze hard-boiled egg yolks step by step:
Steps:
Step 1:
Firstly, insert all of the yolks in a saucepan and add water at least 1 inch above the yolk’s length.
Step 2:
Next, cover the saucepan and boil the water.
Step 3:
For this step, you need to stop the heat and let the yolk be in hot water for around about 12 minutes. Do not remove the cover in this step.
Step 4:
Finally, you can remove the yolk, drain it nicely, and package it for the freezing container.
That’s all. By following these 4 easy steps, you will be able to freeze hard-boiled eggs’ yolks.
Are Scrambled Eggs Freezable?
Now you may be thinking about what other types of eggs are freezable. Are scrambled eggs freezable? Well, to most people’s surprise, YES! You can freeze scrambled eggs, as a matter of fact. You can choose to freeze them raw or cooked; however, you like it.
Freezing Raw Scrambled Eggs:
You can learn how to freeze raw scrambled eggs just by following these five short and simple steps.
Step 1:
Firstly, you have to scramble raw eggs.
Step 2:
Secondly, add a teaspoon of salt per cup of raw eggs.
Step 3:
Then, move the eggs to an ice cube tray and cover them for freezing.
Step 4:
Next, transfer the raw eggs from the ice cube tray to a labelled freezer so that you can finally put them in a freezer container.
Step 5:
Finally, you can thaw the raw eggs whenever you want for a year.
Easy, wasn’t it?
Freezing Cooked Scrambled Eggs:
Freezing cooked scrambled eggs is a bit different than freezing raw scrambled eggs. However, it is still a short and simple process. Follow these 4 steps to freeze your cooked scrambled eggs.
Step 1:
After you have cooked the scrambled eggs, let them cool down.
Step 2:
Then, wrap the cooked scrambled eggs with plastic wrap. Be sure to let the air out gently while doing so.
Step 3:
Next, cover the eggs, label them and put them in a freezer container.
Step 4:
Finally, thaw the cooked scrambled eggs within a year of freezing.
That’s it. You can now go and try to freeze cooked scrambled eggs yourself. Be careful, though and try not to make a mess.
Conclusion:
Hopefully, by now, you must be aware of the general knowledge regarding freezing eggs. Let’s recap what we read above. We know why freezing eggs is such a great thing to learn and how it helps us in our lives. We also know how egg whites and egg yolks react differently to freezing. We learnt how easy it actually was to freeze eggs. The four different methods of freezing eggs involved almost the same steps. We now know how adding salt and sugar to the eggs before freezing changes many things for the egg yolk.
They learnt how to thaw eggs and how to thaw different eggs differently. Next, we read about the details of freezing hard-boiled eggs step by step and why it was a bad idea to freeze the egg white in it. Further, we learned how to freeze both raw and cooked scrambled eggs by following a few simple steps.
In the end, you should definitely give freezing eggs a try. Yes, you will feel a bit uncomfortable and nervous at first. However, once you have frozen your first set of eggs, everything will look easier. After all, what is there much to lose? You know everything you need to know about freezing eggs and can easily learn it practically. If you enjoyed reading this article about freezing eggs and found this interesting, share it with your friends and let them know about freezing eggs as well. It will be a lot better if more people learnt about this skill and started freezing eggs. So go and see how freezing eggs works out for you.
