Do you check your eggs for freshness?

[Geezer in NH]

Farm fresh eggs taste way better than store bought! Yolks are a bright yellow versus pale yellow, better overall flavor...

Big thumbs up on that one!!!

The only time we would check an egg would be when we find one in the field but most times we just pitch that one to the woods.

My wife boils fresh eggs all the time, she does not peel them but uses a serrated knife to cut them in 1/2 then scoops them out of the shell with a spoon.

[farmerjim]

I raised chickens and Guinea fowl for years. The neighbors young daughter across the street started raising chickens for eggs at $3 per doz. I couldn't feed mine for that little, so I got rid of mine and bought eggs from them. She doesn't do it anymore, so I guess I will have to get some chickens and Guineas again. Guinea eggs are much better than chicken eggs. They are mostly yokes.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

SNIP... Seems like they get a little dehydrated in the fridge, and the skin/membrane between the shell and egg sticks, rather than separates like the fresh eggs.

I can vouch for the "get a little dehydrated in the fridge". Store bought eggs, that are 3 to 4 months past the expiration date, the egg white clings to the shell half, and when you 'shake' it out of the shell half, you can see there is less volume to it. Fried with Black Pepper and Onion flakes...tastes great...didn't get sick.

That's Bachelor life, buy a bunch when they are on sale, it seems one dozen always gets pushed to the back of the frig and gets forgotten.

[KCSO]

We just don't eat the floaters.

[OldBearHair]

That chicken that sits in a cage and can only stand up and sit down, never flaps it wings, or runs and scratches the ground, never lives past eighteen months then is
destroyed in my opinion is not a healthy bird and the egg it lays is deficient in quality. Also bad cholestrol and triglycerides. I have some chickens that layed eggs three of four years but with lessening production as they age. Free range chickens when cooked taste altogether different than supermarket bird because of the better nutrition they have eaten all their lives. We do rotate the eggs every day to keep from having older eggs. A basket sits near the stove on the counter, the fresh eggs go there that we eat. The excess eggs go in the icebox ( refrigerator ) to be given away.

Expiration date ---- We cooked 20- years at New Mexico Boys Ranch for 75 people, attended State held classes regularly that taught food safety. The way I remember it, the life of a given food was divided into three sections of time. The expiration date was set at the end of the second period. There was some time left in the third period before the food spoiled.

[DerekP Houston]

I believe the egg carton I had said Oct 28. Slightly over 2 months past the date that says use before this date. Still alive today but will always do the egg test to see if they are floaters or sinkers before using.

I wouldn't even blink at that. use by dates are all just added for regulations, food is usually perfectly safe well past that date.

[DerekP Houston]

That chicken that sits in a cage and can only stand up and sit down, never flaps it wings, or runs and scratches the ground, never lives past eighteen months then is
destroyed in my opinion is not a healthy bird and the egg it lays is deficient in quality. Also bad cholestrol and triglycerides. I have some chickens that layed eggs three of four years but with lessening production as they age. Free range chickens when cooked taste altogether different than supermarket bird because of the better nutrition they have eaten all their lives. We do rotate the eggs every day to keep from having older eggs. A basket sits near the stove on the counter, the fresh eggs go there that we eat. The excess eggs go in the icebox ( refrigerator ) to be given away.

Expiration date ---- We cooked 20- years at New Mexico Boys Ranch for 75 people, attended State held classes regularly that taught food safety. The way I remember it, the life of a given food was divided into three sections of time. The expiration date was set at the end of the second period. There was some time left in the third period before the food spoiled.

man, i've wanted to have chickens for the fresh eggs for a long time but just haven't gotten the freetime/yard space. You aren't wrong, farm fresh eggs taste night and day difference, I may have to stop on the way home and buy some. Rather pay directly to the family for a few bucks more and get the good stuff.

[OldBearHair]

Everyone that gets our eggs say "Wow" So that is what eggs are supposed to taste like!
On a lighter note: A fellow went into a cafe and asked what was on the menu today? Was told they had a special on beef tongue. He said he did not want anything that came out of somethings mouth and ordered three eggs over easy with toast.

[Thundarstick]

For the miss informed. Chickens kept in a pen and only fed layer mash will have the same color yolks as any store bought egg I don't care who's farm there on. The amount of greens a chicken gets determines the color of the yolk, therefore people think being out of the cage is the reason for the darker yolks, when it's the amount of greens they eat. Back when I had chickens I ran all my garden greens through the chickens before it went into the compost pile. Pea and bean vines, any thing that was too big or over grown, rotten produce, rinds and trimmings all went to the chickens! They don't call them "barnyard buzzards" for no reason you know!

[Lance Boyle]

Not hard for us to check the freshness, when the Hen cackles, we go get the egg,,

THe shelf life on is is something like 45 days.

Ha I was going to say if it was still warm she laid it not too long ago.

[retread]

Years ago when we went north for the Alaska fishing seasons we would put fresh eggs in a crock in layers with the small end down till the crock was almost full. Then we would boil water and let it cool and add "Waterglass egg preserver" (Sodium Silicate), pour the mixture in the crock until it covered the eggs. Lasted for the entire season (4+ months) with no problems. Just had to make sure the water level stayed above the eggs.

[Hannibal]

I just check for cracked shells. Bump 'em with the tip of a finger in the carton and if they're not stuck down, then they'll probably serve their purpose.

I use a similar technique on people I'm around.

I'd like to check the color of the yolk on some of these folks, but I expect I'd wind up incarcerated.

Back to your regular programming.

[6bg6ga]

I'm of the opinion that the mind can and usually does play tricks on a person. I'd be willing to bet that if you blindfolded a person and sat them down to the table they wouldn't be able to tell any difference between store bought eggs and fresh. The wife used to bring home very fresh eggs from a friend that sold eggs that she worked with. Either my taste buds are totally gone or there isn't any difference. I surely couldn't tell any.

[762 shooter]

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762

[Lloyd Smale]

that's my experience too. Put 4 guys at a table and tell them the store bought eggs are the fresh ones and the fresh ones are store bought and id about bet youd have 4 guns saying the ones you called fresh were the better tasting ones. Id bet if you put one of each on a plate at a restaurant that not one in a 100 would comment that one tasted different then the other if they didn't know there was two different ones there. Add to that I rarely eat an egg without cheese or as an omlet or with bacon mixed in with scrambled eggs or with sausage gravy on top. So I'm sure not paying twice as much for a farm egg.

I'm of the opinion that the mind can and usually does play tricks on a person. I'd be willing to bet that if you blindfolded a person and sat them down to the table they wouldn't be able to tell any difference between store bought eggs and fresh. The wife used to bring home very fresh eggs from a friend that sold eggs that she worked with. Either my taste buds are totally gone or there isn't any difference. I surely couldn't tell any.

[Wild Bill 7]

When I was a youngster we raised chickens. Fresh eggs all the time and we never ate store bought eggs. Too many years have passed to remember how they tasted. I do remember my step father changing the color of the chicken feed to red and green. The chickens that ate that feed changed the color of the yolk respectively. Those chickens were separated from the rest of our birds. Christmas yolks they were called. Only my step father would eat them. They looked awful cause yolks are supposed to be yellow. New way to peel eggs is put them in a pint jar one at a time and shake if for a little bit, the pretty much peel themselves. Wife found that idea on line and loves the easiness of that.

[MaryB]

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

[6bg6ga]

Your probably an audiphile also. A simple blind taste test will prove there is no difference in the eggs other than a slightly darker yoke.

[Thundarstick]

I guarantee I could be blind folded and a two overeasy fried eggs put in front of me, one from a free range spring time chicken, and one from a layer mash fed (aka store eggs) chicken, and I could easly tell the difference! Once again, the more greens the chicken gets, the richer, stronger, and darker the yolks! That's a fact!

[6bg6ga]

I guarantee I could be blind folded and a two overeasy fried eggs put in front of me, one from a free range spring time chicken, and one from a layer mash fed (aka store eggs) chicken, and I could easly tell the difference! Once again, the more greens the chicken gets, the richer, stronger, and darker the yolks! That's a fact!

Wished you lived closer I would take you up on that.