Egg Shelf Life Test

GSF · February 19, 2014, 05:56:36 AM

Some of us have been experimenting and learning about long term food storage. One of the things we've run across was about the shelf life of eggs. There was a lady on TV who used either mineral oil or vegetable oil to lightly coat eggs. This was supposed to extend the shelf life to six months or more. We don't know about that one. What we did run across was when you collect your eggs do not wash them. Something about a natural coating that would preserve them. If you wash them you remove the coating. So a friend of mine came by and I gave him a dozen eggs for this experiment. He took them home and left them on the counter - no refrigeration. Every week he would remove one and check it out. I emailed him last night asking for an update. Pretty promising. Here's his reply;

"We just scrambled the eggs for week 9 and 10 this past Sunday. The only thing I noticed is that the yolks are clearly not standing up like a fresh egg yolk does. No difference in smell or taste."

amun-ra · February 19, 2014, 08:12:01 AM

I saw somwhere if you dip them in bees wax they will last 12 months??? ill dip em if you try em first

Oblio13 · February 19, 2014, 08:18:24 AM

Eggs refrigerated in a sealed container will last for about seven months. Their whites may become somewhat runny and the yolks will not stand up like fresh eggs, but the smell and taste will remain good. Start with fresh eggs, of course, and don't wash the bloom off - that will increase the porosity of the shell.

You can tell good eggs from bad by putting them in water. If they sink, they're fine. If they float or turn up on end like they're trying to float, throw them away.

Vance G · February 19, 2014, 09:47:33 AM

People preparing to head west by covered wagon would start filling a barrel with eggs and fill around them with cooled but not congealed lard and bacon grease. On the way they ate the eggs and used the lard as you use lard. Those who got them to gold rush California found they could sell them for a dollar apiece.

That being said. Nothing nastier than breaking a clutch of rotten eggs forgotten by a hen in the hot summer. They can go off like a bomb.

GSF · February 19, 2014, 09:29:09 PM

Oblio, I tried that method on some I found in a nest. I read everything you said with the exception that if it stands up on end it's still good but just a little aged. Well I tried one that stood up on end - rotten. Then I got one that stayed on the bottom, same thing, so I just chunked all of them from that nest.

Oblio13 · February 20, 2014, 09:13:19 AM

I meant that if an egg sinks to the bottom of the water, but stands up on end, throw it out. When that happens, decomposition has created a pocket of gases.

And if you have any doubt about any egg, just take the bowl outside to crack it open. It'll either be bad or good, there's no in-between with eggs.

GSF · February 20, 2014, 10:25:24 PM

Yeah.. Oblio. It'd been good if I'd thought about the bowl thing :lau:

(I'm serious)

Kathyp · February 20, 2014, 11:23:05 PM

one exception to the standing on end thing that i have found...or maybe two :-)

if the eggs are not at room temp, this test does not seem to be as accurate. also, i have found that some of my eggs will stand on end even when fresh. don't know why, but i know which ones are most apt to do it. they must come from one particular breed of hen.

very rarely do i find a bad egg, but often i find a floater :evil:

bernsad · February 22, 2014, 06:49:20 PM

The floating test is not to test whether the eggs are good or bad but rather how fresh they are. Fresh eggs are mostly fluid with a small air pocket at one end to allow the chick to breathe. Because the eggshell is porous the egg gradually loses moisture and the pocket of air at the end expands thus making the egg float more.

GSF · March 17, 2014, 06:46:40 AM

Update.

My friend emailed us last night. Yesterday was the last of the unwashed eggs day. He said he skipped a week so he could use a brown egg and a white egg at the same time. He seems to think the brown eggs' yolk gets darker. A total of 14 weeks has passed since the eggs were laid. He gave some to his teenage daughter(15) who was unaware of which eggs she was eating. About the only negative thing said was they didn't taste as fresh as the other ones. No bad odor or taste. Yolks don't sit as high as fresh ones.

Again, these eggs were never washed or refrigerated. They sat on the counter in their kitchen which is at a semi constant temperature. I can say from "bad" experience, if you find a nest of eggs outside during the summer the results WILL be not so good :-P