Hi Jujubee, I can't believe no one has replied yet. I don't know whether your broth is safe. If it is, then recanning should be fine as long as the jars were all safely sealed during the time they were at room temperature. I don't know if it would change the flavor...I've never used eggs in broth but I'd think that the egg itself has more effect on flavor than reprocessing does.

Is your broth safe, well, I have no idea. Are products containing eggs ok to can? If chicken is ok, then I guess eggs might be, if properly pressure canned. Since the BBB recipe doesn't mention eggs, the processing time may need adjusting, but then again it's not much egg solids in each jar. Is the broth noticeably thicker? That would definitely affect heat penetration. I couldn't find any egg info in a forum search, so I hope someone knowledgeable will reply. I think if you had refiltered & recanned right away, you'd be better off since during the second processing the broth has less protein thickening it up, and there's no chance that botulism got a foothold in the meantime. On the other hand, if you boil the dickens out of it for 10 minutes, you can disable any toxin in there and effectively be back where you started. For safety I'd boil 10 minutes, cool, strain, reheat, and process. Definitely use new jars, perhaps sterilize the old ones, just treat everything like it has botulinum in it. Next time I would skip the eggs.

Maybe someone will offer a yea or nay on canning eggs first.

Melissa

I've been thinking about this and I'm sure others have too. The problem is, as best I know, there's no specific information available on this sort of problem. The USDA guide doesn't speak to eggs, butter, etc.

My first thought was if you strained it and this is just the residue remaining, then in all likelihood your processing is perfectly safe. After all, the directions for broth say you can "remove the bits of meat clinging to bones and add to broth, if desired." The white, which is also a protein, can hardly be more dense or greater in amount than those bits of chicken meat.

I personally wouldn't be concerned, but I'm not "official." However, an even more conservative option would be to return to the boil, as previously suggested, and re-can as for soup, which is 60 minutes for pints,75 minutes for quarts. You can't possibly go wrong with that.

Carol

Like Carol, I'm not "official", but I don't think I'd be very concerned either, especially since the NCFHFP published that lemon curd recipe with 4 eggs and 7 egg yolks in a boiling water bath!

If you are concerned anyway, I'd take Carol's suggestion and reprocess for the time required for soup.

Annie

Thanks all for your replies. Technically, when you clarify broth using egg whites, as the broth is brought back to a simmer, the egg whites coagulate (as they would if you poached an egg for example), float to the top and take any fat and bits with it. The result when you strain it through a paper towel is perfectly clear broth. (traditionally, the goal is to be able to read the year on a dime at the bottom of the soup bowl through the broth).

I did re-process the broth - and still had a bit of egg 'puff' in each jar. When I reheated the broth for processing again, (removing as much of the puff as possible) the broth when hot was perfectly clear again. So in the end, I'm going to keep these jars with the tiny amount of remaining egg white, and just remove it when I go to use it (since it solidifies when cool).

Thanks again for the replies - it was a strange request for sure!

-Jujubee

Personally, I would not can it if you used the egg whites, it is still contaminated with the egg, that is my personal opinion. I know the lemon curd recipe is there, but it also is highly acidic, not like chicken broth. Plus,the lemon curd recipe also states this below about shelf life. I actually ran this same recipe by the Food Safety Scientist at the university here, she said it should not be canned, but frozen. If anyone asks here, we are to recommend they freeze it. I asked the Food Safety Educator here, too, last time we had food safety training classes. :
Lemon curd.
Shelf Life: For best quality, store in a cool, dark place (away from light). Plan to use canned lemon curd within 3 to 4 months. Browning and/or separation may occur with longer storage; discard any time these changes are observed.

Prepared lemon curd can also be frozen instead of canned for up to 1 year without quality changes when thawed. Package in freezer containers after straining and cooling to room temperature. To thaw, place container in a refrigerator at 40°F or lower for 24 hours before intended use. After thawing, consume within 4 weeks.

I think that there are other products that help to clarify and do not conatin protein like egg whites. Bentonite, a clay has been used for centuries for clarifying wines as it engulfs the particles which fall to the bottom. The rest is clear, and is syphoned off above that sediment.