Millumin meaning skin#

The mud slowly dries and hardens into a crust over several months. It is then rolled in a mass of rice chaff, to keep the eggs from adhering to one another, before the eggs are placed in cloth-covered jars or tightly woven baskets.

Millumin meaning skin#

Each egg is individually covered by hand, with gloves worn to protect the skin from chemical burns. To the tea, 1.4 kg (3 lb) of calcium oxide (3.2 kg or 7 lb, if done in winter), 4.1 kg (9 lb) of sea salt, and 3.2 kg (7 lb) of ash from burned oak is mixed into a smooth paste. A recipe for creating century eggs starts with the infusion of 1.4 kg (3 lb) of tea in boiling water. The addition of calcium oxide and wood ash to the mixture lowers the risk of spoilage and also increases the speed of the process. Instead of using just clay, a mixture of wood ash, calcium oxide, and salt is included in the plastering mixture, thereby increasing its pH and sodium content. The traditional method for producing century eggs developed through improvement of the aforementioned primitive process. In her honour, the farmer named the transformed eggs with their delicate crystalline patterns on their surfaces 'pine-patterned eggs'. The eggs were not discovered until the woman cleaned out the ash pit half a month later where they had turned into century eggs. water-brother), also from Hunan, leaving duck eggs in the garden of a woman by the name of Songmei (松妹, lit. An alternate story involves a young duck farmer by the name of Shuige (水哥, lit. Upon tasting the eggs, he set out to produce more – this time with the addition of salt to improve their flavor – resulting in the present recipe of the century egg. Its discovery, though not verifiable, was said to have occurred around 600 years ago in Hunan during the Ming Dynasty, when a homeowner discovered duck eggs in a shallow pool of slaked lime that was used for mortar during construction of his home two months before. The century egg has at least four centuries of history behind its production. The clay hardens around the egg and results in the curing and creation of century eggs instead of spoiled eggs. The method for creating century eggs likely came about through the need to preserve eggs in times of plenty by coating them in alkaline clay, which is similar to methods of egg preservation in some Western cultures. In 2014, 3 million tons of Songhua eggs were consumed in China.

These patterned eggs are regarded as having better quality than the normal century eggs and are called Songhua eggs, also known as pine flower eggs or pine-patterned eggs ( Chinese: 松花蛋). Some eggs have patterns near the surface of the egg white which are likened to pine branches. This chemical process breaks down some of the complex, flavorless proteins and fats, which produces a variety of smaller flavorsome compounds. The transforming agent in the century egg is an alkaline salt, which gradually raises the pH of the egg to around 9–12, during the curing process.

Through the process, the yolk becomes a dark green to grey color, with a creamy consistency and strong flavor due to the hydrogen sulfide and ammonia present, while the white becomes a dark brown, translucent jelly with a salty flavor. Century eggs ( Chinese: 皮蛋 pinyin: pídàn Jyutping: pei4 daan2), also known as preserved eggs, hundred-year eggs, thousand-year eggs, thousand-year-old eggs, century-old eggs, millennium eggs, leather eggs, skin eggs, black eggs or old eggs, are a Chinese egg-based culinary dish made by preserving duck, chicken or quail eggs in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, quicklime, and rice hulls for several weeks to several months, depending on the method of processing.