Many of us were brought up to eat eggs reasonably carefully, making sure that we didn’t accidentally eat a piece of shell. In fact, as long as it’s small enough to go down safely, it probably would do more good than harm!
The Chicken and the Egg
Eggshells are a brilliant source of calcium. Consisting of 95% calcium carbonate, the composition of essential minerals can be enormously beneficial to our bones and teeth.
Many chicken owners grind up the shells and feed them back to their chooks. If that’s what you do, then hold back a few to supplement your own diet! If you buy your eggs, then for the purpose of making these supplements, search out organic, free-range eggs if possible.
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How to Take It, How to Make It
The supplement couldn’t be easier to make. You’re basically aiming to grind the clean eggshells into a very fine powder, so that it can be taken easily.
We generally need around 1000 – 1500 mg of calcium every day (1 tsp of eggshell powder equals around 1000 mg). While it’s possible to get some of that from a balanced diet, taking a supplement can sometimes be necessary.
Calcium carbonate is more bioavailable when taken in doses of no more 500 mg at one time, so you could aim for two or three doses throughout the day, unless you’ve been guided by a medical professional to aim for anything more or less than a standard dose.
Another way of storing eggshell powder is to make up your own batch of supplements, by filling empty capsules (gelatin and vegetable cellulose types are widely available online) using a paper funnel and storing in a clean, dry jar.
You’ll need:
- Eggshells – as many as you can use/have
- An electric or manual coffee/spice grinder or pestle and mortar
- Clean, dry jar with lid
- Empty supplement capsules (optional)
Method:
1. Use your eggs as usual, but retain the shells. Wash them in hot water, removing any dirt. Don’t take out the membrane inside – it’s rich in minerals.
2. Boil the shells for five minutes and leave to dry. You can place them in an oven set to a low heat for 15 minutes if you want to speed things up.
3. Once completely dry, place in your pestle and mortar or grinder and grind/pound to a very fine powder.
4. Sieve to remove any remaining large particles and place into a clean, dry jar with a lid.
5. If you want to fill empty capsules, then secure one half of each of the capsules using non-toxic putty or dough as a base.
6. Now make a papper cornet and fill the capsules, then store them in a clean, dry jar.
Uses and Calcium Supplement Shelf Life
It’s believed that the calcium carbonate in the eggshell powder becomes more bioavailable when added to certain other foods and liquids. Vinegar, lemon juice and live yoghurt are all good for that. Many people sprinkle the powder on cereal – particularly granola or muesli – or mix it into a fruit smoothie-type drink.
In fact, the latter option is a particularly good one. If you add a banana to a homemade smoothie, the magnesium it contains helps with bioavailability and calcium absorption. Eggshell powder has other uses too – some add it to toothpaste or mix it with a little coconut oil for a natural exfoliator.
Kept dry and out of direct sunlight, the calcium powder should last for 2 months, possibly more. If you unscrew the jar and it smells bad, then start again – it’s possible that some moisture got in there.
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never used it myself but have ground it up and used it for tomato plants, they need and like the calcium.
Might make sense in a SHTF scenario but until then I’ll use generic Tums because it is much more convenient.
I noticed that the TUMS website, doesn’t show the ingredients, but tells a tiny bit of them, in the FAQ. But I wonder if it has any ingredient with the word “Corn” in it. As 95% of corn crops in the US, is grown as GMO (genetically modified organism), I would suspect that, this is what you are taking into your body. Also, if one of the ingredients is named “Red” or “Blue” or any other color, and followed with a number, then you are taking in a petroleum by product. Yummmy!
But no, not good. I learned by reading online, and practicing it myself, that a little bit of baking soda (not baking powder!), in water, calms all problems with heartburn, FAST! Start with a tiny bit, and add gradually, to find out your dose, that kills the acid (It won’t take much). SO much better for your body too!!
Look at the ingredients on the TUMS bottle, please!
Does it look anything like this?
Inactive Ingredients:
Sucrose, Calcium Carbonate, Corn Starch, Talc, Mineral Oil, Natural & Artificial Flavors, Adipic Acid, Sodium Polyphosphate, Red 40 Lake, Yellow 6 Lake, FD&C Yellow 5 Lake (Tartrazine), Blue 1 Lake
Horrible!
This is good to know…had never even considered it before! Thank you!!!
Add about a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to the water when boiling. The ACV makes the calcium more bioavailable to your body (as well as for the chickens!)
Does nor boiling the shell remove a lot of the minerals?
That’s exactly what I was wondering! The article states, this….”Wash them in hot water, removing any dirt. Don’t take out the membrane inside – it’s rich in minerals.”
And THEN, to boil them, for five mins!! Wouldn’t both of those, together, just kill the THIN membrane inside??
I also wash the inside of mine, with hot water, and then dry them, and after I collect a bunch, crush them all, in a plastic bag, to spread in my garden. I don’t feel any membrane when I’m done washing them!
How can there any “thin” membrane left, after washing with hot water, and then boiling them for 5 mins??
my great Grandmother from Germany had my mother give us kids a 1/2 tsp of ground eggshells mixed with a tsp of molasses. I had very few cavities and clear skin all my life.
I’m allergic to eggs do you think eating the egg shells would be a problem I’m not really sure
Eskimos historicaly ate crushed egg shells just clean, dried, crushed and sprinkled on their food like we might use salt or pepper at the table.
My neighbor roasts egg shells and crushes them for my chickens. Just mix into their feed or scatter over it.
Might be a good way to add them to my diet.
Just curious, where did Eskimo find birds to get the eggs from? Must have been living way south of the arctic circle to find them.
Artic turn, seasonal seagulls and so on. Spring thaw Alaska, usually in June, bring lots of birds building nests to reproduce in the short warm season. Eggs but not all are taken for food. Birds will lay a few more or even refill the nest if its the first eggs being taken.
Ring neck doves occasionally lay eggs where they are eating my chickens grain. I haven’t tried incubating those eggs but they are fresh and are good in an inlet.
Ground to a powder would this not make baking soda? (Calcium carbonate)
Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate.
What’s the purpose of boiling the shells? If it’s disinfection, I would think some time in the oven at 250° would be just as good
Watch out for salmonella, if using yard eggs a lot of poop on those shells
You wash them in hot water if they are dirty. Then dry them. Crossing my fingers, I have never had a problem. 🙂
I put the dried shells in a blender. Can make it into powder if you wish. I don’t put in capsules. I add it in their crumble. Easy way for me to do it. I get great strong eggs.
All my left over flour/cornmeal mixture from dredging chicken or fish, I add a little bit of oil, and egg and a small amount of powdered egg shell in it and make a cornbread for my ‘girls’. They love it! This is mostly in the Winter, as I don’t feed a lot of corn in Summer because corn can heat their insides too much.
My neighbor saves all the washed and dried egg shells. Then she spreads the shells out evenly and bakes the shells at 200 degrees for enough time to make the shells take on a slightly toasted appearance. Then the egg shells are crushed. We mix the crushed eggshells. Into the chicken and ducks feed.
My eggshells go into the compost and eventually into the garden.
Here are some tips:
– Wash and hard boil the egg(s) for 5-10 mins (sterilizing the egg outside and cooking the egg inside)
– Remove from heat and let cool for 30 mins
– Soak the egg(s) in a mason jar of apple cider vinegar for 24-72 hours
– the eggs shells will dissolve into the vinegar (and the egg will be further sterilized)
– You can eat the egg (slightly pickled) as a high protein source with your salad, potato salad or rice. The pickling makes it easier to digest.
– Keep the brine (dissolved calcium carbonate/vinegar solution) as it is now a perfectly organic calcium supplement in the most bioavailable form (liquified). – NOTE: Eating dried calcium makes NO SENSE because your body needs to DISSOLVE IT (with acid) in order to use it (bioavailability). This is a long and taxing process. Why not let the AC VINEGAR do the work. Let the stomach do the rest!
– Some of the calcium will separate and sink to the bottom. Stir well before use OR pour off the and take 1 tablespoon 1 to 3 times per day
– If it is not palatable add to fruit juice or blend into a smoothie
– Cures osteoporosis, skin problems, eczema, some autoimmune diseases, and strengthens the immune system
We eat a lot of hard boiled eggs. Would we need to boil the shells again?
Calcium is also available in canned or pressure cooked fish such as canned salmon. It always had soft edible bone and skin in canned salmon. Pressure cooking does that. Any bones or larger dense bones like beef bones boiled to make bone broth will have natural calcium and geletin. All good for you.
Above there was a mention of taking egg shell mixed with molasses is a wise measure to take. Magnesium is essential to use calcium. Some D is needed but unless you burn excessively easy, skin exposed to Sun for a bit each day will help your body make what you need.
Minerals are not destroyed by any form of heat. They can leach into liquid, but if the liquid is used there are just as many minerals in the total. Only vitamins are destroyed by heat.