Do you check your eggs for freshness?

[poppy42]

If you knew how old store bought eggs were you probably wouldn’t eat them

[markX]

90 days before they hit the shelf

[poppy42]

90 days before they hit the shelf

Yep, sounds about right. At least 90 days!

[poppy42]

If you wanna know how old it is, boil it. The older the egg the easier it peels. It’s got to do with egg shells being a semi- permeable membrane and moisture content. When we raised chicken the only time I’d even think about store naught eggs was at Easter. And that was only for coloring and big egg hunts when the kids wanted to peel and eat there own. Nothing worse than watching the little ones trying to peel an egg when the shell and inner membrane is stuck to the egg.

[starmac]

Someone mentioned water glass, I always thought it was to toughen up the shell so it wouldn't break, riding on the boats, not to preserve them. I could very well be wrong, never used it for eggs, but have used it several times for busted heads and blocks.

And yes there is a definite different taste in free range eggs and laying mash fed eggs, just as there is in meat depends on an animals diet as to the taste.
Milk is the same way too, what it taste like depends on what the cow has been eating.

[trails4u]

My 5th grade daughter just finished up a science fair project comparing the 'quality' of store bought eggs. vs. our own free range eggs. She tested shell thickness, shell porosity, egg white thickness and yolk color. It was a pretty fun project for both of us...and we learned some things.

Yolk color is predominantly a factor of beta carotene, which is converted to Vit A. Darker yolk = more Vit A....and our eggs presented much, much darker yolks. On a yolk color fan (yes there's such a thing) the store bought eggs averaged a score of 5, whereas ours averaged 11.

Shell thickness was surprisingly similar....with an average of only around .001in difference. They all ranged between .013 and .017 thick. We thought ours would be thicker.....they sure seem so when trying to crack them, but the micrometer don't lie. Maybe the membranes are thicker or tougher? Don't know....we didn't test that.

Shell porosity was interesting......as the store bought eggs were 4x as porous, as we determined by soaking them in a dyed solution, then looking at the inside of the shell for signs of the dye. Even our fresh eggs, after washing and scrubbing the bloom off, were still 1/3 as porous as the store bought eggs.

Egg white thickness/height was also pretty conclusive, as our eggs had tall, thick whites while the store bought eggs were, on average, almost .150in 'shorter', measured with a dial caliper. Our research led us to believe that the thickness of the egg white is a product of age, as the proteins in the egg white break down with age, allowing the white to become thin and runny. Interesting in that the protein composition of the thick part of the egg white is in some ways anti-bacterial.

So there you have it! 'Scientific' proof!!

[6bg6ga]

This has what to do with the topic of "Do you test your eggs for freshness?"

[762 shooter]

Pertaining to egg freshness and peeling hard boiled eggs.

I have 12 Black sexlinks that are egg machines. Peeling fresh hard boiled eggs was a pain even with cooling with ice. I read about steaming the eggs instead of boiling them. I was willing to try it because nothing else worked.

10 eggs fresh from chicken butts to steamer. Six minutes for soft boiled and 12 minutes for hard boiled. 100% perfect peel for deviled eggs. If I hadn't done it I wouldn't have believed it. I'll never boil a hard boiled egg again.

762

[trails4u]

This has what to do with the topic of "Do you test your eggs for freshness?"

As much as anything else in this topic, as far as I can tell. Seems like a 'free-range' discussion about eggs.

[brass410]

seems like the yoke is on all of us

[6bg6ga]

Well I've learned one thing on this thread and that is range free is fresher tastes better and this is of course without any proof. It just does and thats the truth.

[Adk Mike]

I’ve kept chickens for 21 years so far. I have no plans to quit. I eat fresh eggs every day.
It’s been a great hobby.

[6bg6ga]

I’ve kept chickens for 21 years so far. I have no plans to quit. I eat fresh eggs every day.
It’s been a great hobby.

I guess my question is do you check your eggs for freshness? I would assume you would probably wash your eggs and store them in egg containers in your frig. So, how long do you store them or keep them in your frig? Do you ever check them by placing one in a jar full of water and seeing if the egg floated or sunk to the bottom?

[OldBearHair]

Just got up at 10 am w/ cold symptoms Jan 29, my wife opens the carport door and calls me outside to see baby chickens.There was my little white hen with the feather crown cap with 11 little bittys. Found where she came out from and in the nest there were 13 more unhatched eggs. One had pipped , didn't make it. These eggs went to compost. I didn't bother to see if they were floaters or not!!.. Then on the 31 January we found a second hideout nest. yes you guessed it, they went compost as well. No checking my eggs for freshness. When I take an egg from the nest and it is still warm I think that is about as fresh as it gets.

[trails4u]

Well I've learned one thing on this thread and that is range free is fresher tastes better and this is of course without any proof. It just does and thats the truth.

I do apologize for poaching your thread....I didn't mean to get your blood boiled. Sometimes my brain just gets a bit fried and my thoughts scrambled. To keep things on the sunny side, I'll pony up and answer your original question.

Generally, no we do not, as we get fresh eggs from our own flock. My daughter sells them, so we don't keep them around long normally. We also date the containers as they go in the fridge. We do not wash them prior to refrigeration, as they stay fresh much longer if the bloom is left intact. When they surpass 2-3 months of storage, which is rare, I will float any of them we intend to sell. The ones that float we keep and use ourselves. In many years of doing this, I have never, not once, encountered a 'rotten' egg from storage. The whites thin out a bit....but that's the only negative effect I've ever seen from storing, bloom intact, in the refrigerator.

Over-easy and out.

Trails.

[AllanD]

Remember that Eggs "keep" for 21days under a warm chicken...

In a refrigerator they can be kept indefinatly, but there is a caveat to this...

That most modern Refrigerators are "frost free" meaning there is a circulating fan for the cool air
and as is the nature of refrigerated air it is also DRY air, considering this and being aware that
egg shells are porous (the developing chick needs to breath) eggs will "dry out" in the fridge without spoiling.

Even Hard boiled eggs will gradually lose moisture.

All these eggs will fail this "float test".

There is a trick for longer storage of eggs under refrigeration, DIP them in MOLTEN (Quickly for fresh, less quickness is needed for Hard boiled) wax to seal them!
This prevents them from dehydrating and absorbing refrigerator smells. these smells will not technically "spoil" the eggs but will make them unpalateable.

[Lance Boyle]

Being a bit of a foodie I can definitely tell the difference in flavor...

That and how they cook up.

An older egg has whites run all of her the frying pan or a lot more whisps of white floating around when poaching. Fresh eggs sit up nicer, both the yolk and the white.

[ascast]

Found this on the Web


The Best Method for Uncracked Eggs: The Float Test
Just fill a bowl with cold water and place your eggs in the bowl. If they sink to the bottom and lay flat on their sides, they're very fresh. If they're a few weeks old but still good to eat, they'll stand on one end at the bottom of the bowl. If they float to the surface, they're no longer fresh enough to eat.

I grew up on a egg farm. this is the rule. or check ashrae standards. sell by dates and all that are a short standard time to ensure product rotation.