Making Mayo from Freeze-Dried Eggs—Does It Work?

As long as we had chickens—all our years in Missouri and the last seven in Reno, so a dozen, I made our family’s mayo.  Much cheaper than store-bought and way better.  Probably because it didn’t have all the synthetic preservatives and “natural” flavorings added.

Mayo making came to a halt when we sold our chickens in preparation for putting our house on the market and moving.  I wanted chickens again in our new place, but not enough to put the effort in.  I actually didn’t mind taking care of them and they are a great contributor to any homestead—and I still think about getting them.  Problem is, it is extremely cold here in winter.  It’s just a little walk to where the chickens would be kept, but it is down a little incline and then up a very steep slope.  And it would be quite icy in winter.  At this age, I fear what a fall would do to me.  If not the first time, then one of the subsequent times.  KOTPE’s house already had an ideal set-up, and he offered to bring us eggs from his chickens, so that’s what I went with.

But until he was ready to get chickens (one year) and then until the chickens started producing, I was sucked back into buying mayo at the store.  That stuff is so expensive, especially now. 

Making mayonnaise from powdered eggs was not an option.  I attempted that a few years ago and blogged about it.  It was nothing short of absolutely horrid.  All three tries. 

It made me nervous to even think about trying to make it again with freeze-dried eggs.  However, I had a few minutes this afternoon, and a jar of freeze-dried eggs in the pantry, so I figured it was time to give it a try. 

I used the same recipe I previously posted for making mayonnaise.  This is my tried and true formula:

Mayonnaise
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dry mustard
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 egg, the freshest possible
1 cup oil

In a blender, combine the first four ingredients well.  With the blender running, add in the oil in a very thin stream.  We're talking very thin, like this should take at least a minute or two.  After all the oil is added, continue to blend another 30-40 seconds.  Keeps for two weeks in the refrigerator.

 

I pulled out a jar of eggs that I freeze-dried in April 2021 and used 2 tablespoons of the freeze-dried eggs and 2 tablespoons of water to reconstitute in the blender.  I then added in the salt, mustard and vinegar and buzzed it all together for a little bit.  After that, while the blender was running I poured in the oil in a very thin stream, taking a full 2 minutes. 

Mayonnaise perfection.

I am fully confident that others will be able to make mayonnaise from freeze-dried eggs as well.

The trick will lie in whether these people have actually purchased freeze-dried eggs. 

There was a bit of a panic a few months back with people paying outrageous prices for #10 cans of powdered eggs.  I think most people knew they were buying powdered eggs—dehydrated eggs.  But I’m not sure.  See, a lot of folks were calling these freeze-dried eggs.  I’m a little concerned that some of these people actually think they have purchased and stored freeze-dried eggs, when in fact they are just powdered eggs.

How can you tell the difference?

Unfortunately, none of the egg products listed on Amazon as of this writing claim to be freeze-dried.  They all say they are powdered or dried.  The biggest clue, outside of the much higher price, that the eggs are freeze-dried is the word crystals.  (As far as I can tell, Ova Easy eggs are the only ones on Amazon that are freeze-dried.)  If the product description includes crystals—freeze-dried eggs appear very crystalline (like sugar)—there’s a good chance the eggs are freeze-dried.  Regular powdered eggs are just that—very powdery in appearance, like flour.  And while at this point in time sugar is about double the price of flour, freeze-dried eggs don’t seem to be any more expensive than powdered eggs.

Links to related posts:

Making Mayonnaise   

Making Mayonnaise from Powdered Eggs  

Eggless Mayonnaise