Egg Protein Powder - Unscrambling the Truth

Step one - acquire the eggs

Yes, chickens are involved, but where those chickens come from, how they live their lives, what they are fed, whether antibiotics or growth hormones or other drugs are used in their care is a very present variable. You can find free range fresh eggs at many of the local farm co-ops as well as the local grocery stores. More about the differences in cage free, free range and organic coming up.

Step two - break the eggs

Okay, what this is really saying is whether you separate the egg whites from the egg yolks. In creating powdered eggs that will be used to create things like scrambled eggs, etc., they keep the yolks and whites together. In almost all egg protein powders they use only the egg whites. This will make a difference in the nutritional components of the end results, but more on this later. Once you decide to separate or not, scramble the eggs.

Step three -
apply heat

There are two methods that are used. In a two step method, you cook the eggs first and then dehydrate the cooked eggs. In a single step method you dehydrate the raw eggs in temperatures of at least 130 degrees. These pasteurization temperatures are necessary to kill salmonella bacteria, as well as dry the eggs for storage. It is also important to treat eggs with heat in order to deactivate avidin protein in the egg white.

(Avidin is a minor constituent of raw egg white protein but it can be toxic when ingested in large amounts. Avidin binds with biotin, creating a deficiency for those who eat large amounts of raw egg whites. Processing the egg whites with sufficient temperatures to inactivate the avidin is a necessary step in making a safe protein powder.)

Step four - grind and store

A grinder or blender or even a food processor will work. You want the end result to be powdery. If thoroughly dried this can be stored unrefrigerated for years. A good airtight container is necessary.

If you are interested, here is an article that goes into all the step by step details on how you can create your own powdered eggs.

Here is a video that shows the process for dehydrating raw eggs:

I liked this video because she obviously does this frequently. If you wanted to, you could separate the egg yolks and do this with just the egg whites. The dehydrator she was talking about and the one she uses is this Nesco American Harvest.