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There is a lot of wastage of egg yolks in my college canteen breakfasts. Almost everyone who takes boiled eggs on his plates eats the whites and throws away the yolk.

I live in a country with the largest number of malnourished children in the world; looking at the wastage daily bothers me quite a bit. Is there any way the yolk can be processed/preserved etc. to make it usable for atleast 4-5 days or so?

I know about breakers which separate the white from the yellow while breaking, but my canteen is....as rudimentary as any. Nothing easier than just boiling the eggs and serving them.

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    Are you suggesting that the discarded egg yolks from individual patrons be collected and re-used? Sounds unsanitary at best.
    – moscafj
    Aug 1, 2019 at 15:14
  • First up, I am not the business owner. Am a student. How does 'discarded' change it any way? It isn't like it's bathed in sauce or something. Also, you really don't seem to know what hunger and malnutrition actually mean.
    – Rohit
    Aug 1, 2019 at 15:19
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    my comment does not suggest what your role is. I am trying have you clarify the situation. Your question doesn't make clear how the yolks and eggs are separated. I am assuming, from the limited description, that patrons are potentially using their hands to separate the white and yolk from hard boiled eggs. That means, many hands, most of which are not sanitary, touching egg yolks. It sounds like you want to collect these egg yolks and feed them to others. This sounds problematic to me...especially if they are malnourished, as that often comes with compromises to the immune system
    – moscafj
    Aug 1, 2019 at 15:41
  • Yes. To your point about unsanitary, most of the roadside food-shacks in the country(including one's which sell cooked egg) are prepared by people with bare hands. And they comprise of any where from 50-70% of prepared food market(by volume) in the less urbanised parts of the country(~60%). Soo..err..that's not as big an issue as you imagine.
    – Rohit
    Aug 1, 2019 at 15:56
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    @moscafj, in any case, if the diners prefer just the whites, nothing stops the servers separating the yolks before serving them and reserving them for some other use (like giving to malnourished people).
    – The Photon
    Aug 1, 2019 at 22:31

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I'll add an answer that doesn't address your question directly, but does address the underlying concern:

If patrons regularly discard part of the dish, you should ask why. With hard boiled eggs cooked in a large scale cafeteria kitchen it's easy to overcook the eggs, just leaving them in the water for hours on end. This results in a greyish, crumbly and unappealing yolk, often discarded.

If you can get the kitchen to improve their process, perhaps with smarter egg boiling appliance, the end result will be more appealing and thus less wasteful.

This, of course, is extremely optimistic, and getting a cafeteria to invest in the tools and training for no immediate return will be very difficult. Perhaps a more feasible alternative is to petition for less wasteful egg preparations, perhaps omelets, where the entire egg is used.

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Cooked egg yolks can be frozen, in order to preserve them for a short a mount of time (I wouldn't store them frozen for long, though.) After thawing they can be used for anything a 'fresh' cooked egg yolk could be used, even though the consistence might change during the freezing process.

I used frozen cooked egg yolks for something like egg salad, potato salad or to thicken any kind of spread.

That said: I only ever used this method at home and not in a commercial context. I always am very careful when handling anything with eggs, cooked or raw. The thing is, that egg yolks, especially, are a very good breeding ground for any kind of germ or other stuff, because they are very nutritious (after all they are made for nurturing a baby bird inside the egg). So, anyone accidentally sneezing on the cooked egg yolk or handling it with dirty hands could contaminate an entire batch! Hence, I, too, think that it is somewhat unsanitary for average western standards, but I find it very noble of you to think of any solution to this wasting problem.

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  • Hmm. Too bad :(.
    – Rohit
    Aug 2, 2019 at 9:24
  • I'd suggest freezing immediately, and then putting the frozen yolks in something where they will be re-heated to at least 95C, as a way of cutting contamination. A nice egg yolk curry might do the trick. @moscafj's point about this being a contamination minefield still applies, though.
    – FuzzyChef
    Sep 2, 2019 at 19:28
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Unless you use them in other recipes (for example, google for "what to do with extra egg yolks") there's not much else to do with them.

IMO, The best way to keep them longer would be to salt cure them and use them as a condiment on salad, pasta...

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  • I did google it already, but I didn't find any entries for solid yolks.
    – Rohit
    Aug 1, 2019 at 14:48
  • what about the link I put in there ?
    – Max
    Aug 1, 2019 at 14:58
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    Salt cured egg yolks are usually cured from the raw stage. I am not sure you can achieve the same result from cooked. Have you tried it?
    – moscafj
    Aug 1, 2019 at 15:13
  • oh, is the OP starting from raw or cooked ?
    – Max
    Aug 1, 2019 at 19:12
  • Both the question title and the body of the question make it clear that the yolks are being discarded from boiled eggs, so 'cooked'.
    – Spagirl
    Aug 2, 2019 at 15:13

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