The egg is a basic ingredient for many recipes: cakes, pasta, omelettes ... It is part of everyday life in many cultures around the world. However, we spend most of the time next to the almost miraculous properties of one of its constituents, which is most often found directly in the trash: the shell!
But the shell, which weighs an average of six grams, is particularly rich in calcium, which alone makes up 37.5% of it. The rest consists of minerals such as carbonate (58% of the composition), magnesium and phosphorus. There is also some organic matter and water, all for optimal resistance; a shell can indeed withstand a pressure of four kilograms! A true feat of Mother Nature that resides in the crystalline structure of this impressive shield.
A fertilizer and pest repeller
Besides its protective role for the future chick that will come out, the shell can be used for many other uses. The first is fertilizer! Because of its mineral composition, the eggshell is a great natural fertilizer once reduced to powder and deposited at the foot of plants.
It is also a weapon of choice to fight against peach blister - a fungus that attacks the leaves of trees - and protects the leek, garlic and onion plantations from the ravages caused by the larvae of certain butterflies called "leek moths". ". These butterflies, which usually lay on plants, prefer to deposit their eggs in empty shells if the choice is given to them.
The shell can still be used as a repellent for slugs and snails when they tend to nibble our salad plants; simply grind it roughly and draw circles around the plants you want to protect. The barrier will discourage all snails, even the most courageous!
Grandma's technique
Uses of the eggshell do not stop there, since it is also possible to use against calcium and mineral deficiencies. For that, nothing easier: you have to put an egg in a glass of water and let it rest all night long. The minerals contained in the shell will then be deposited in the bottom of the glass, and it will only remain to drink the liquid the next day to remineralize his body! A technique that our grandmothers had understood well, and there are still a few decades, it was not uncommon to see them give this kind of a decoction to their grandchildren to strengthen them!
The inside of the eggshells can be used as healing bandage, by recovering the skin which lines it (the small white membrane on the inside part of the shell) and by applying it on the burns, the cuts, and even insect bites that disappear in a short time. As you can see, the egg is more than just a cooking ingredient; its uses can be multiple and new ones are yet to be unveiled! For example, Americans have discovered that egg shells mixed with tomato peel could replace the carbon black used in the manufacture of tires, giving birth to the first green tires!