Egg Freshness- How old is it?

Knowing how fresh your eggs are can make a huge difference in your favorite recipes. Some recipes need the freshest eggs possible, but did you know that sometimes fresher isn’t necessarily better?

If you look closely at the eggs in the photo you’ll see that they each have a pencil scratched date on them. These eggs were collected from my own chickens. I do this for several reasons… one of our children was assigned the chore of collecting eggs each day. I would ask, “did you get all of the eggs today” to which I would always receive a “Yes, I got them already”.

One morning I went to make an omelet for breakfast and when I cracked the egg into the pan .. well.. let’s just say it wasn’t too far from being a chicken omelet. *shudder* Apparently the kids thought it would be okay to collect the eggs on a weekly basis to “take up less room in the fridge”.

The other reason I write the date on the eggs is because some recipes actually come out better with older eggs.

For Example, Did you know that Fresh Eggs have less oxygen in the shells and therefore are more difficult to peel when they’ve been hard cooked?

To Determine the freshness of your eggs, Gently drop the egg into the bowl of water. If it:

• sinks to the bottom and stays there, it is less than 2 weeks old.
• Sinks, but floats at an angle, it’s 15-21 days old.
• Sinks, but then stands on end, it’s about 23-40 days old.
• Floats, it’s too old and has gone bad- throw it out, preferably wrapped in a couple layers of plastic.

Most of the eggs that are purchased at the store are several weeks old by the time they hit the shelves.

 

The egg in the photo to the left is 9 days old. Notice how it sunk to the bottom and is completely flat, neither end is raised.

 

The egg in the picture to the left is exactly 16 days old. As you can see from the photo is only slightly floating at an angle.

Another Helpful Tip: Sometimes eggs that have been hard cooked get placed back in egg cartons- which may leave you wondering whether it’s raw or cooked! To determine if the egg is cooked, spin it. If it wobbles around, it’s raw inside. If it spins smoothly, it’s been hard cooked.