Eggs

In the past many people collected eggs from their own chickens or bought them from local farmers. Fresh eggs were at their best from April and June. They could be pickled in salted water to preserve them. In the early 1900s, factories in America and China began to produce dried, powdered egg in cans.  Dried eggs were particularly useful in Britain during the Second World War when fresh eggs were in very short supply.

This picture shows a display of eggs in a Sainsbury’s store in the 1950s. The invention of the railway and of steam ships in Victorian times meant that eggs did not just have to be bought from local farmers. Sainsbury’s sold eggs from suppliers throughout Britain. However, British farmers could not produce enough eggs for all the people living in the towns.  Sainsbury’s also imported eggs from France, Austria, Italy, Denmark and Holland.

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