watercured roe

[Steelhunter]

I am having problems with my water cured roe turning white after only a couple of drifts. after i remove a bag and it warms back up it goes back to original orange color. this is my first time watercuring my roe and if it turns white so soon it may be my last time. Does anyone have any suggestions for me please reply? My borax cured egss will last at least 15/20 drifts

[piercer]

I usually dont do anything to my eggs I pre tie all my roe and freeze!

[Brooktrout]

I've found the same thing with roe when I tried water curing it. From what I've heard borax give the best results. I don't have a recipe for it, but I'm sure there's one floating around on the web.

[krae]

Did you dry them over night in the fridge after water curing them? Also for the water curing part they just need to be rinsed very quickly in cold water then onto a paper towel in the fridge for a few hours or over night so they harden. I made a frame out of 2x2's and stapled window screen material to it. laid the eggs out so they didn't over lap.. give them a quick 30 second or so spray and done.

Also sometime's its just the eggs themselves. Some salmon just have weird eggs. I had one years ago that had some eggs normal size mixed with eggs larger then marbles.... they were all incredibly soft and would break with the slightest touch.... those end up as chum for the most part.

[Steelhunter]

From what i was told i kept them in cool river water for 4 days . They bounce like little rubber balls but middle of egg is still soft, but like i said they turn white fast. They are great to tie up no mess no fuss. In early fall when water is warmer they will be good for salmon. Do you think the length of time in river water could be the problem? A good friend at the river told me to do them this way.I think if i go this route again i wouldnt do the whole batch this way. I dont have enough this year to waste any as chum

[admin]

Steelhunter, the secret is salt. Add salt to your jar with river water and eggs, usually a teaspoon or so. Sometimes I add more, leave in fridge for another day, the salt will all dissolve. It will penetrate the eggs and act as antifreeze, also the trout like the taste.

[Wilbur007]

This is a recipe that I've used for many years - and change it up depending upon the maturity of the eggs and whether they will be tied or used for chum. Combine your eggs with 1 litre of river water (or bottle water), 1 tbs of boric acid, and 2 tbs of epsom salts (I often add red food colour can help). A couple of secrets to help would be to pre-mix your boric acid and epsom salt in warm water to help disolve these into solution quicker. If the eggs are very imature and break easily, you can redo the cure solution a second time. The time in the refrigerator depend upon how mature the eggs are; I usually leave them over night (~10 hrs) and check the next morning. At that point you can decide is another cure is needed. [Epsom salt can be bought in any grocery store or pharmacy, but boric acid you will have to have your pharmacist order it for you.) Good luck!