Please note: the content of this blog post is my opinion. I am not a food safety specialist or healthcare professional.
If you know me at all, you know that I hate wasting things. That is especially true of food. Over the weekend, I decided it was time to clean out my refrigerator. This is a task I dread because it involves throwing out food that is no longer good and therefore wasted.
I was saddened by several of the things I found that needed thrown out due to being pushed to the back and forgotten, but the half dozen eggs with the November expiration date really hurt me. Many of my friends and family throw their food out the moment it reaches its expiration date. I don't play that way. Being an old country girl, I test my eggs with the tried-and-true method of my ancestors.
I still remember the day Aunt Susie taught me how to test egg freshness. We were at my grandma's farm, and I had gathered eggs from places other than the henhouse. When I mentioned I'd found eggs in the shed, Aunt Susie said we needed to test them before putting them in the fridge.
It occurs to me that perhaps not everyone knows to test eggs. With their ridiculous price, I don't know anyone who wants to throw out a potentially good egg. Believe it or not, two of those six eggs with the November expiration date were still good. They were at the back of the fridge where it's super cold, so I'm sure that's why they lasted this long. I boiled them and will have them for breakfast this week.
To test an egg, you need a cup or bowl of cool water. I usually use a two-cup measuring cup. Gently drop the egg into the water and let it settle. If it settles at the bottom, it's still good. If it floats to the top, it's a bad egg and needs thrown out.
When eggs are laid, they have a natural protective coating called the bloom that keeps out bacteria. However, over time and with exposure to air, the egg's quality degrades. Air enters the egg as it ages, making it buoyant. Of course, if an egg smells bad or looks weird, throw it out.
There are several other things that are good past their printed expiration dates, as well. Perhaps, I will go into those in another post. Today, I wanted to concentrate on the increasingly expensive egg. No one wants a bad egg, but why throw out good ones?
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