How To Tell If Eggs Are Fresh

Many people love to eat eggs, whether scrambled or boiled or in the form of an omelet. With so many variations in the egg recipe, you can be sure that you will never ever get bored of the delicious food item. Just like other food items, when stored for a long duration of time, eggs can also get spoilt. In such a case, eating them would only make you sick. So, before consuming eggs, make sure that they are fresh. Checking eggs for freshness is possible before their shells are broken. Are you wondering 'how do I know if eggs are fresh’? If yes, then go through the article below and explore the process to check whether eggs are fresh or not.

How To Tell If Eggs Are Fresh

Take a deep bowl or pan and fill it with tap water, enough to cover the egg completely.
Place the egg in the pan.
If you see the egg lying on its side at the bottom of the pan, it means that the air cell within it is small. In others words, the egg is very fresh.
In case the egg stands up and bobs at the bottom of the pan, it means that that the air cell within it is large. In others words, the egg is not very fresh, but not bad either, just about a week old.
In case the egg balances on its smallest tip, with the large portion facing the surface, it indicates that the egg is about three weeks old.
If the egg easily floats on the surface of the water, it means that it has gone bad and should be discarded immediately.
Because the egg shells are porous, the liquid in the egg evaporates with time and replaces it with outside air. This, in turn, results in more buoyant eggs.
Hold the egg close to your ear and shake it gently. If you hear a splashing sound, do not consume the egg. However, if you do not hear any sound, the egg is perfect for consumption.

Tips

A fresh egg white is always cloudy but an older egg white will be more clear and rummy.
If the egg is very fresh and comes out of the shell, it will have an overall thick white that doesn’t spread much. At the same time, its yolk would be rounded and well domed.
As the egg gets older, the white will become thin and watery and spread easily across the plate. Even the yolk will become flatter.
Bad and old eggs start losing weight, thus, becoming extremely lightweight.
Smell the egg. The egg is bad if it smells really rotten or pungent.
Discard eggs that have an odd appearance.
Store eggs in the refrigerator in their original carton.
Buy eggs with a clear expiry date and use them before that date.
Eggs that are at least a week old are much easier to peel, as compared to very fresh eggs, when cooked in the shell.
In case you drop one of your eggs, simply pour lots of salt on it and wait for about 10 minutes. Then clear it up easily.
Fresh eggs can be ideally used for frying, poaching, or soufflés, since the shape and texture matters largely. However, lesser fresh eggs make great additions to sauces, cake mixtures and omelets, where they are used for enhancing their flavor and taste.
Twist an egg on the counter till it starts to spin on its own. Stop the egg. A hard-boiled egg will stop immediately while raw egg will take another turn to stop in due to the shaking liquid inside.

If you have that egg tray lying in your refrigerator since a long time, it’s best to take the egg freshness test before breaking them into your recipes.

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