Identifying Old Eggs – Here’s How
You might be aware that old eggs are sold in the grocery store. How old? It’s anyone’s guess, but they didn’t start putting sale dates on the egg cartons for no reason at all – they got complaints about eggs that weren’t fresh.
Whether you raise your own egg laying chickens or buy your eggs in the grocery store, here are four ways to roughly determine the freshness of the eggs:
- Put your eggs in several inches of water. Older eggs float or show more buoyancy, while fresh eggs readily sink to the bottom.
- Judge the weight of the egg. You know how much a certain size egg should weigh. If it feels lighter than normal, then it’s an egg that isn’t fresh.
- Crack open the egg and note the size of the air pocket inside the shell. No air pocket indicates a fresh egg. An air pocket the size of a teaspoon indicates an egg that is perhaps two to three months old.
- Crack open the egg into a frying pan. If the white part is runny with some of it being even a bit watery, then the egg is farm fresh.
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The photo above shows older eggs in a frying pan. Notice there is no watery white portion that spreads out far away from the yolk. The white portion in a fresh egg would spread about 50% farther than what’s shown.
We’re often led to believe that our eggs are “farm fresh.” Now, you’re armed with techniques that can help you determine just how fresh those eggs really are.
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Clair Schwan keeps chickens mainly for fresh eggs. If you’re interested in raising chickens, he has plenty of experience and suggestions to share. Come see all of his advice about raising small animals for meat and eggs at Frugal Living Freedom, where the motto is “…living well, and well within your means…”
