Frozen Eggwhites - A Little Experiment

Housework that needs to be done:

• Tidy Kitchen and Family Room
• Put Away Folded Clothes
• Tidy the Play Room
• Deal with the Desk (yes, I know!!!!)

But instead of doing that.....

I'm performing a little experiment.

You see, it's like this....
I do a lot of baking etc that involves just egg whites, not the yolk, and while I can separate an egg easily enough, I always have a bit of a dilemma on what to do with the leftover yolks. I was brought up to not waste food. Yes, I know there is custard and the various things that it can be turned into but hubby DETESTS custard and with the quantities I would be making, the kids would end up hating it too.

So-o-o-o, imagine my excitement when I found frozen egg white at the supermarket. I promptly bought it and took it home to my somewhat overloaded, but highly functional freezer. It wasn't until today when someone else mentioned that the label says that it is not for whipping that I had that sinking feeling. Now I had a litre of egg whites (the equivalent of almost 30 egg whites) that may have no functional use for me. Well, there goes the guilt-over-food-wastage quota for another month!

Perhaps not! Afterall, we all know that food labelling tends to err on the cautious side. With nothing to lose, I have defrosted my little bottle of eggy goodness and am seeing what happens when you try to whip that stuff (which, by the way, is pasteurised and bottled for people to drink....ugh!)

My choice of experiment - Pavlova.

After making sure all of my equipment was "scrupulously clean" (don't I sound like a cooking show), I set forth into the unknown, following the Pav recipe from the New Zealand's fave - The Edmonds Cookbook.

Armed, dangerous and ready to go...

Unlike a cooking show, I didn't make sure the eggs were at room temperature before assaulting them, so that may have impacted the initial whip (they were still quite chilly). But they did froth up and get some volume. Secretly, despite my bravado about "all in the name of science" I was a bit pleased that I didn't have to throw anything out at this early stage.

The initial whip - egg only

Mr Edmonds' recipe adds water before the sugar. Not sure if that is such a great idea with these eggsicles, but that is hindsight. After adding the sugar  it took a lot longer than normal to get a fairly thick mix. However, it seemed to get reasonably thick. Still not 100% convinced on the volume front.

More whipping after adding copious amounts of sugar

But, onwards and upwards (or perhaps round and round and round).....
The meringue is a lot softer than usual so I don't get the same height that I normally would on the tray.

 

Ready for the oven

And now I wait....

Where it is at the moment

So far I think that I would be happy to whip my frozen egg whites, and even make some yummy, light baked goods with them. But there is some further experimentation to be done. Afterall, I now have 900ml of defrosted egg whites that need some attention or I will be racked with that wastage guilt.

Postscript

This is the end result. A bit flat, but certainly passable. Now where are the cream and berries?????