I have been peeling the insides of my eggs diligently, setting the shells to dry and making intense use of my mortar and pestle. For the life of me I cannot get my cascarilla to a fine powder. I can get it to very small pieces but is it possible to get a fine talc for chalk making? Any advice is appreciated! Cheers!
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Use a coffee grinder 👏🏻👏🏻 Makes it fine and chalky
What material is your mortar and pestle made of? I've heard some materials can make the process much more difficult and that granite is the best to use.
After the shells have dried, rub your finger on the inside of the shell to make sure there's no membrane left. Sometimes I would find that even after I peeled my shells and let them dry, there was still a thin coat of pinkish membrane in the shell. After that, try grinding it up. Idk if that will help at all but it's worth a shot, right?
does it make them less effective if you don't get all of the membrane off? I just set some aside this morning to use for the first time!
@jayde292 If you want a really fine powder, the membrane can make it more difficult. Also, I think it's more likely to smell like eggs if there are chunks of membrane, and since I store mine for later use, I don't want to open my jar and have it smell like eggs. But I don't believe leaving the membrane in makes it less effective. It's just more about what kind of consistency you want to get.
@GhostlyPockets ah, didn't think about the smell. duh lol... thanks! :)
I used to blend eggshells for other uses and used a small blender (think individual smoothie blender/not magic bullet but a lower cost option that would be similarly sized) and that worked really well to get it quite fine. You could also try sifting what you have right now to get the finest powder and save the chunks that are left to throw in with the next batch.