Pasteurized Eggs

Baking By aisrad Updated 5 Sep 2012 , 11:24pm by aisrad

aisrad Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
aisrad Posted 30 Aug 2012 , 3:28am
post #1 of 6

I really want to make a swiss buttercream but there isn't any place where I live to buy pasteurized eggs. I've heard you can pasteurize them yourself, but Davidson's Safe Choice website stated you cannot. Can you really know that if you pasteurize eggs yourself that they're safe to put in buttercream and serve to people? If so, is it a pretty simple procedure, or is it something that you can easily mess up?

5 replies
scp1127 Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
scp1127 Posted 30 Aug 2012 , 8:55am
post #2 of 6

You don't need to pasteurize your own eggs. You need to bring the eggs above 160 degrees.

As far as home pasteurization, I would suggest that you research the government sites. The process is quite precise. I personally wouldn't sub a home pasteurization process over the specific gov information on how to make eggs safe.

jamesyay Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
jamesyay Posted 31 Aug 2012 , 7:48pm
post #3 of 6

You can make an attempt at pasteurizing them at home - however it won't be absolutely guaranteed that they are safe (although they probably are). I read that all you need to do is heat them up super quick.

I also had a difficult time finding pasteurized eggs - then I looked on the back of the pre-packaged egg whites in little mini cartons and it said those were pasteurized. I haven't tried using them yet but I'm hoping it works just fine.

scp1127 Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
scp1127 Posted 1 Sep 2012 , 3:27am
post #4 of 6

Pasteurized eggs in the shell are the only completely safe eggs. The whites in the carton are only "safer"... per the Egg Board.

BakingIrene Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
BakingIrene Posted 1 Sep 2012 , 7:52pm
post #5 of 6

The process of making Swiss meringue gets the egg whites to what is normally considered "pasteurized" even if the eggs were not treated before. Buy clean fresh whole government inspected eggs and check each one in the carton to make sure there are no cracks or bits of feather. Hold the eggs at 40F--in a picnic cooler on the way home from the store.

If you are really concerned, you can dip the cold eggs into a 5% bleach/cold water solution and then rinse that off with cold water. Do this just before cracking them.

Separate eggs while cold. Use the yolks immediately or put them back into the fridge in a sterilized screw top jar.

Heat the egg whites and sugar mixture for the Swiss meringue to 160F. Check with a thermometer. That will make the egg whites in the icing safe.

aisrad Cake Central Cake Decorator Profile
aisrad Posted 5 Sep 2012 , 11:24pm
post #6 of 6

Thanks, everyone. I think until I can actually find pasteurized eggs, that I'll stick to regular buttercream, just to be safe.

Quote by @%username% on %date%

%body%