To wash or not to wash eggs?

[houseofknauss]

I don't wash my eggs. The egg is designed to be pretty much sterile inside (unless the hen is infected), and protect from germ attack from the outside. Eggs have been laid and hatched for long before modern technology, so is probably better at keeping itself clean and fresh than I can invent.

I also believe (I use that word 'believe' because I don't have a lot of evidence to support my hypothesis) that ingestion/innoculation of small amounts of germs keeps the immune system primed and ready to fight off bigger attacks. I refrigerate mainly as someone else remarked, because my critters might get at them. And, if I put them someplace safe and dark, they wouldn't be handy anymore, either.
Being new to eggs, I am right now swimming in bitty Bantam eggs

I thought I would get close to 50/50 roos/hens from my feed store straight run chicks. Instead, I have one roo and five hens to just the one me, and have at least 4 dozen egglettes vying for fridge space. I may need to follow a Medieval version of egg storage: coat in a thin layer of beez wax and store in the root cellar, and they should last about a year. Of course, under that plan, I could have hundreds of eggs by the end of that year.

When chicken math kicks in, I am likely to be in real egg trouble

I really need to bake more!

somewhere on this website I was reading something about freezing them in icecube trays---you'll have to do a search. also reading somewhere about dehydrating them. I read so much stuff on prepping I loose track of where I read it.

 

[Dark Chicken]

When the hen lays the egg she deposits a slimy substance known as the "bloom". This seals the egg from bacteria. When you wash the egg you remove the bloom and open it up to bacteria. While the egg remains unwashed you can store it for several months at about 50 to 60 degrees, such as in a basement. Once you wash it, you need to refrigerate it and it will only last a few weeks from that point. Therefore, I do not wash the eggs for my egg CSA customers unless they really need it. I separate the eggs that need to be washed from those that don't, and then leave the former in the basement until I start to run out of unwashed eggs, at which point I wash the dirty eggs and put them immediately in the refrigerator for pick up.

 

[Annasg]

I found someone close to my neighborhood to take my excess eggs. I sell them for $2.00 doz which is actually cheap. I am sure if I had more eggs, they would take them as they bring me my cartons as well and they use a lot of eggs. Maybe in the spring time I can get some babies to bring more eggs next yr, however, I got rid of my rooster who was causing me so much trouble but I have another on the way to replace him with. I dont know where you live but in colder climates, hens dont lay as much in colder weather and the holidays are coming up, so maybe you can get rid of some of them during the holidays. I just wish there was some easy way to get the shell off of the homegrown eggs like they come off in the store. I have used a LOT of salt but that does not seem to help much. Any ideas?

 

[Belinda7]

Re washing eggs. I did a little research/reading on this topic, and this is my conclusion. You should gently swipe off any obvious debris on the egg in the grass when you gather them. Then put them in an egg carton in your refrigerator without washing them because that will leave the outer cuticle coating on the egg intact, and preserve their "expiration" date.

However, after doing some research on this, some salmonella may be present on the egg shell when you don't wash them. So I store my eggs in a carton, in a plastic bag around the carton with a twist-tie to close it...so if any salmonella is still on the egg, that germ will not be dispersed throughout the refrigerator by the refrigerator fan onto all the other food in the refrigerator.

When I am ready to use an egg, I simply put the eggs in a bowl of water with a spritz of bleach, then gently rub off the outer cuticle with my fingertips, rinse the egg with clean water, and use it! Simple, easy, and quick.

Although I feel the risk of Salmonella is quite low, I think taking a few minutes to be safe certainly outweighs the risk of getting salmonella....not usually deadly, but certainly an inconvenience to go through. And most importantly, I don't want to be the cause of illness in my family due to carelessness.

And of course, most importantly, after handling eggs, one should wash their hands with warm water and soap. This process takes a couple of extra minutes, but not much time...and I can feel secure that I am not going to make my family ill because I was careless in my egg handling.

 

[tinamommy727]

When I wash my eggs I put a coating of coconut oil on it to seal the pores of the eggs. Other than that I don't wash at all when I store them. When I sell them or give them away though, I do wash and then put the oil covering on it.

 

[houseofknauss]

I found someone close to my neighborhood to take my excess eggs. I sell them for $2.00 doz which is actually cheap. I am sure if I had more eggs, they would take them as they bring me my cartons as well and they use a lot of eggs. Maybe in the spring time I can get some babies to bring more eggs next yr, however, I got rid of my rooster who was causing me so much trouble but I have another on the way to replace him with. I dont know where you live but in colder climates, hens dont lay as much in colder weather and the holidays are coming up, so maybe you can get rid of some of them during the holidays. I just wish there was some easy way to get the shell off of the homegrown eggs like they come off in the store. I have used a LOT of salt but that does not seem to help much. Any ideas?

vinegar when you boil
also--the older the egg gets the easier the shell comes off after boiling-- so use older eggs if you can for hard boil.

 

[Belinda7]

If you want to determine which eggs are the oldest, put them in water. Older eggs start to get more air within the shell and will float higher than the fresher eggs!

 

[Belinda7]

That should have said - if you want to determine which eggs are the oldest, but them in a bowl of water.

As eggs age, they accumulate air within the shell as the yolk begins to dry up and shrink, and therefore they float higher than the newer eggs.

 

[sbhkma]

I just wish there was some easy way to get the shell off of the homegrown eggs like they come off in the store. I have used a LOT of salt but that does not seem to help much. Any ideas?

Steam them. I have a Chef's Choice Egg Cooker and found it to be simply wonderful at steaming eggs. They cook perfectly and the shells come right off super easy. This was the only egg cooker I could find that didn't require you to pierce a hole in the egg first, which was something I was really looking for as I like to cook up several eggs as snacks. I steam them, then set the whole tray in ice water to cool quickly. Shells peel of really nicely even from eggs laid that day.

 

[MohawkJEn]

I found someone close to my neighborhood to take my excess eggs. I sell them for $2.00 doz which is actually cheap. I am sure if I had more eggs, they would take them as they bring me my cartons as well and they use a lot of eggs. Maybe in the spring time I can get some babies to bring more eggs next yr, however, I got rid of my rooster who was causing me so much trouble but I have another on the way to replace him with. I dont know where you live but in colder climates, hens dont lay as much in colder weather and the holidays are coming up, so maybe you can get rid of some of them during the holidays. I just wish there was some easy way to get the shell off of the homegrown eggs like they come off in the store. I have used a LOT of salt but that does not seem to help much. Any ideas?

I think we use a dash of salt and a dash of baking soda. like a teaspoon of both. sound right? it works pretty well. some sticks but the egg does come out without the shell sticking to it. Well the whole spell goes. water, eggs, salt baking soda, bring to boil, cover and turn off the burner. set a timer for fifteen minutes. then they are ready to go. cold water then peel. see if it works for you.