Egg Question

[CarolPa]

It depends on the recipe. Some call for equal parts water to vinegar, others call for more vinegar than water. Some recipes include sugar, others don't. I'm guessing it is the vinegar that causes that to happen and the ratio of water:vinegar.

And, you don't want to know how long eggs can sit in a warehouse before they make it to the store. To check the freshness of your eggs, submerge them in water (I use one of those plastic tubs when I wash eggs). The freshest ones will stay on the bottom, horizontal. It is not unusual to get some really fresh eggs and some older eggs in the same carton.

I pickle my eggs in beet juice. Put the juice in a big jar, add the eggs and whatever amount of vinegar needed to cover the eggs. I like them, even rubbery!

I know you said that eggs are good for 45 days. Would the date on the carton be 45 days from when they were laid? I don't usually check my eggs, but I do see them stand up in the pan sometimes. I don't pay much attention to it. My husband says that if they actually float, don't eat them. LOL

I just checked my eggs that I bought 2 days ago at the discount grocery. They lie perfectly flat in the bottom of the pan and the exp date is 8/26/13.

 

[CWS4322]

This might answer your question:

Sell date of eggs, Sell by date on eggs, Date Codes on Egg Cartons, How Fresh Are Your Eggs?

 

[dcSaute]

there's not a lot of secrets to this, but there is a lot of partial information and outdated information and 'old tales' floating around.

first, none of it applies if the eggs are not USDA inspected/graded.
that may not be the case for small local suppliers and may also happen where the eggs are not in interstate commerce. inside a state, rules vary.


Reference:

Agricultural Marketing Service - When & Where Packed

/quote
If an expiration date is used, it must be printed in month/day format and preceded by the appropriate prefix. "EXP", "Sell By", "Not to be sold after the date at the end of the carton" are examples of expiration dates. Expiration dates can be no more than 30 days from the day the eggs were packed into the carton.

Another type of code dating used indicates the recommended maximum length of time that the consumer can expect eggs to maintain their quality when stored under ideal conditions. Terminology such as "Use by", Use before", "Best before" indicates a period that the eggs should be consumed before overall quality diminishes. Code dating using these terms may not exceed 45 days including the day the eggs were packed into the carton.
/unquote

note the specific phrase: from the date of packing - which is _not_ when the chicken laid the egg.

to the best of my knowledge, there are no time rules for how long eggs may be stored from date laid to date packed - however there was a batch of rule changes regarding storage/refrigeration/etc a while back - including a prohibition on "reprocessing" eggs - so whether there is a current "chicken to packaging" time limit, don't know.

 

[CWS4322]

Thanks for the information. I don't live in the US and don't sell my eggs commercially (nor have I bought eggs for over 3 years), so that question was one I could not answer from experience. I know when I collect my eggs. I also know that here in Ontario, eggs can sit in the warehouse for a long time before they are washed and packaged.

 

[CWS4322]

I find it amazing that we have 4 pages of discussion about eggs, but no one has asked about the nutrition value of whole eggs vs. egg whites. Who knew we could have so many questions about eggs and so many answers. Nature's perfect food--eggs.

 

[CarolPa]

I find it amazing that we have 4 pages of discussion about eggs, but no one has asked about the nutrition value of whole eggs vs. egg whites. Who knew we could have so many questions about eggs and so many answers. Nature's perfect food--eggs.

I looked it up.

Eggs Whites vs. Whole Eggs, Whole Eggs, Egg White Nutrition, Egg Yolk Nutrition

I have always considered eggs and milk to be the 2 most nutritious foods. That does not mean I want to expand this discussion to include milk. I know about the controversy. My husband thinks eggs are evil. LOL We get into it all the time because I eat eggs and I have heart disease. I don't believe eggs are the cause of it, even though my cardiologist would probably tell me not to eat them. I ate egg beaters for a while but my husband thought they were bad, too, so I figured I might as well be enjoying what I really like.

 

[CWS4322]

LOL. If you look at how much cholesterol is in Eggbeaters, you would see that there is more than in eggs. Eggs have gotten a bad rap however, the cholesterol in eggs is blood (serum) cholesterol so most people do not process it as "bad" cholesterol. Most of the nutritional value is in the yolk, as is the fat and most of the cholesterol. However, if one does not eat a high fat diet, eggs are not "bad." My doctor buys 3 dozen eggs from me every 2 weeks. She grew up in Eastern Europe and does not buy into the "eggs are bad for you" theory. My cholesterol is great, my bp is normal, and my BMI is good. The DH eats 2 eggs / day. His cholesterol barely registers. He eats very little fat, mostly veggies, not a lot of red meat.

 

[Andy M.]

LOL. If you look at how much cholesterol is in Eggbeaters, you would see that there is more than in eggs...

Eggbeaters contain no cholesterol. They are made from egg whites.

 

[Dawgluver]

Eggbeaters contain no cholesterol. They are made from egg whites.

That's what I thought too.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

It's the sodium content and extra ingredients of eggbeaters that I am not happy with.

 

[CarolPa]

Well, I believe that God put the chickens here to lay the eggs for us to eat. Some lab made the eggbeaters. I'm going with God's eggs!

 

[CWS4322]

It's the sodium content and extra ingredients of eggbeaters that I am not happy with.

You're right. I thought my parents used Eggbeaters, but looking at the packaging on the Web, that is not the one they buy. I can't remember what it is, but it is an egg replacement product. The nutritional information on the package indicates it has a whole lot of stuff added (stabilizers, etc.), more calories than an egg, and more cholesterol and sodium. Here in Canada, the eggs that have sat in the warehouse for up to ONE year are the ones that are used in those types of products. Eggbeaters is not the product my parents buy and not the package I looked at when I was there in May. My bad. What they buy doesn't come in a "milk carton." Whatever it is, I won't eat it. It has too much junk in it that "real" eggs do not have. Besides, the most nutrition in an egg is in the yolk. So if you're going to eat a part of the egg, eat the yolk.

I have a bias re: "eggs are evil." I taught a course on canine and feline nutrition at a local college. Eggs are the scale against which protein content in pet food is evaluated, with eggs being the perfect source of protein. I probably could dig up the course notes and provide the formula to figure out "real" protein that is in pet food. I'm pretty sure those files are on this computer still!

 

[CWS4322]

I once did a home visit for a rescued Saint Bernard where the couple owned a battery farm. I had no intention of placing a dog with them (they didn't have fencing, etc.), but I wanted to get inside the battery farm. What I saw made me sick. When they bragged about how many eggs they had in their warehouse and how long the eggs would be there before going to market, I knew that I had to have my own hens someday. It took awhile, but I can still see all those birds in those tiny boxes and the SMELL. I did not like seeing the conditions in which the hens were kept or knowing how long eggs sit in a warehouse before they reach market.

I have a cookbook for those who sail. I can't find it, but I recall that eggs were kept in salt and could last up to one year. Not sure if the eggs were farm fresh or commercial, I'd have to find the cookbook. Suffice it to say, I prefer the eggs my girls lay. I know what they eat (they happen to love bananas, btw), I know the conditions in which they are kept, and they get out in the sun every day. Miss Broodie is still locked up with the chicks. Her comb has gotten very pale. I don't dare let the chicks and Miss Broodie out yet because of the threat of chicken hawks. I don't want to lose one of the chicks (or all of them). The combs also get very pale in the winter if the girls don't go out (they don't like snow).

 

[dcSaute]

eggs are bad
eggs are good

salt is bad
salt is good

meat is bad
meat is good

etc.

today's problem is every yahoo with a computer Twits - no that's not Tweets - they're Twits... "authoritative" information about {something} / {virtually anything} and suddenly the whole world thinks to believe it.

Canada has it's own "food authorities" - but regrets I don't follow "them"

the last regulatory go-round in USA involved keeping shell eggs under 'constant' refrigeration. as in, eggs delivered to supermarkets / store must travel in refrigerated trucks..... per industry "doom & gloom" statements, I'm sure everyone has noticed the cost of eggs is now 3x previous . . . .

no, not to kept them fresh. the point is/was to retard salmonella.
sheesh; UK and many other countries require laying hens to be vaccinated. $0.36 per chick as I recall.
but not in USA. way easier to burn fossil fuel to refrigerate a semi-trailer.....

the new rules require eggs be refrigerated within 36 hours of being laid by the chicken.
see the problem? not every hen lays her eggs on a convenient schedule.....

so (many lawsuits later) if you collect eggs daily at 5 PM, the 36 hour rule starts from 5 PM - anybody notice the egg could have been laid 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds comma yesterday?

which is not a problem except that.... per so many weird and wonderful sites, including FSIS, USDA, etc. - an egg stored at room temp for 24 hours "ages" as if refrigerated for a "week"

so,,,, ah nuts. 36 hours really isn't 36 hours - its (36+24) hours = 60 hours (minus a second)
with the result that technically / legally the egg may already have the aged the equivalent of 2.5 weeks / 17-18 days before any refrigeration or "storage" limits are encountered.

quick, somebody tell me why it should take a day-and-a-half-plus to get an egg from the hen to the cooler?

I read on some site that added up all the legal maximums - eggs you're eating in April could have been laid in November. don't want to think about that.

now, I agree entirely that many/most companies strive to produce/handle/sell the highest quality.
but there are companies who flaunt/push the "rules" to the limit.

personally I'd rather have a hen house - but that's not permitted in my neighborhood.

 

[CWS4322]

personally I'd rather have a hen house - but that's not permitted in my neighborhood.

That is something that really gets my goat (speaking of which, goats are being used at the Congressional Cemetery--not sure if that is the name--in the DC area to clear poison ivy, etc.). Big Brother has gotten a bit too invasive. I love having laying hens. My grandparents raised prize-winning Rhode Island Reds. The eggs produced help feed the family during the depression. With so many children going hungry in the world, it just seems WRONG that families cannot have hens. I don't know of any municipalities that have outlawed gardens (although I do know of some that have banned clothes lines, another thing that was common where I grew up--and I hang all my clothes...which reminds me, bio-waste is supposed to be spread next week--no hanging laundry! At least I got a notice).

 

[mysterychef]

I might have missed this answer but what are the little white specks inside the egg white? In a commercial kitchen we always used frozen pasteurized eggs in a gallon milk carton. We prepared a lot of food for children and elderly and felt that it was the safest most consistent way to use eggs.We didn't have to worry about anyone under cooking them. They had little or no taste and were full of junk and stabilizers. In fine dining we used farm fresh eggs They had Incredible taste. color and flavor, and we knew where they came from.

 

[CWS4322]

The little white strands on either end of the yolk are called chalazae. They serve to anchor the yolk to the white. The more pronounced, the fresher the egg. If the white is cloudy, that indicates the presence of naturally occurring carbon dioxide that has not had time to escape through the shell. As the egg ages, the carbon dioxide evaporates and the white becomes more transparent.

The DH hardly ever ate eggs until we got chickens. His breakfast now includes eggs. When he travels for business, he won't order eggs--they aren't "real" eggs. When I go visit my parents, I bring enough "real" eggs to last the entire time I'm there.

 

[GotGarlic]

My town just passed an ordinance in June allowing chickens, with some restrictions, like a minimum lot size and maximum number of chickens. I signed a petition to allow it, although my lot is too small for us to have them. I figure they can't be any more bothersome than dogs.

It's my understanding that many municipalities banned chickens because, as people moved to the suburbs, they wanted a new lifestyle and didn't want to live as if they were on a farm.

 

[CWS4322]

My town just passed an ordinance in June allowing chickens, with some restrictions, like a minimum lot size and maximum number of chickens. I signed a petition to allow it, although my lot is too small for us to have them. I figure they can't be any more bothersome than dogs.

It's my understanding that many municipalities banned chickens because, as people moved to the suburbs, they wanted a new lifestyle and didn't want to live as if they were on a farm.

I thought municipalities banned them because of the fear of Avian flu and the noise roosters make. I live in a rural area--city folks move out here and they don't like it that the farmers spread manure on their fields. If you didn't want to live in the country, you should've stayed in the City is my opinion. I love the laid-back lifestyle of rural living. It is so quiet at night when you sit on your deck, look up at the BLACK sky (no light pollution), and hear the crickets and frogs. And, watch the lightening bugs.

 

[GotGarlic]

In most areas, backyard chickens were banned long before avian flu became a concern.

From Changing Your City's Chicken Laws:

"Introduction
In the post-WWII decades, many urban and suburban communities around the country instituted laws intended to distance us from our then-unfashionable rural roots. It was a time when neighborhoods were built without sidewalks,“ChemLawn” seemed like a great name for a business, and keeping chickens in the backyard served as an uncomfortable reminder of the fact Grandma used to slaughter a hen on the back porch every Sunday morning. Suburbanites seeded their lots with grass, installed lawn sprinklers, sprayed and sprayed and sprayed,and passed laws prohibiting chickens in urban and suburban backyards.
...
Chickens and the History of Suburban Development
Why Were Chickens Prohibited by Earlier Lawmakers?

The birth of the modern suburb was a time when many of us were seeking to define ourselves as sophisticated and more like those in the cosmopolitan city than like those in unfashionable rural small towns and farming communities. The car was a symbol of that cosmopolitan lifestyle, so we eliminated sidewalks – why, after all, would anyone walk who could afford to drive? The sidewalk became a symbol of poverty and backwardness. Later generations regretted that decision and many have retrofitted sidewalks and streetlights in their neighborhoods.

The keeping of chickens and other food‐producing animals was also unfashionable during the decades immediately following World War II, and for similar reasons. The problem wasn’t one of chickens creating a nuisance; it was one of wanting to seem modern, cosmopolitan, and sophisticated. (Appendix G)"