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Tricks on how to boil fresh egg so they will peal

Boiling Farm Fresh Eggs

Submitted by Marian Listwak

Boiling Farm Fresh eggs can be a challenge.

The challenge is not usually with the store bought eggs it is with the farm fresh eggs.

Over time the inner membrane of the egg detaches from the shell and the air bubble at the top of the egg gets larger. Because these changes occur older eggs are always easier to peal.

There are some things that can be done to make pealing farm fresh boiled eggs easier.

A friend I know lets some of her eggs sit for a couple of weeks and saves those one for boiling. Sometimes I find that even boiling eggs that are a couple of weeks old they can be still difficult as compared to store bought eggs. If a person wants to select older eggs a simple way to tell the older eggs from the fresher eggs is to put the eggs in water. Since the air bubble on the top gets the larger it makes the eggs more buoyant as they age. New eggs will sink older eggs will stand up somewhat, really old eggs will float. If they float some say pitch them, I will break them open in a separate dish and many times they are fine. They have to very old to become rotten.

The following is the method I use. I bring the water to a full boil, then I slowly lower the eggs into the water using either a slotted spoon or tongs. I let them boil for fifteen minutes, I than pour out the boiling water and run cold water onto the eggs.

To peal the egg, I crack the wide end of the egg first where the air bubble is, run them under cold water and they peal easily.

If I refrigerate the boiled eggs they generally still peal good. Sometimes if the eggs I put in the refrigerator are being really difficult I will drop them into boiling water for a few seconds and than run them under cold water again, by that time they peal easily.

Other methods I heard people say works is to put vinegar in the water. The vinegar breaks down calcium and weakens the egg shell.

Racheal says she puts in a tablespoon of baking soda in the water and that works for her. This is suppose to change the ph of the shell which contributes to separating the shell from the membrane.

Another challenge with placing the eggs in boiling water is keeping the eggs from cracking. It is important to lower the eggs into the water slowly. A trick an intern taught me was to put a pin hole in the large end of the egg. This allows the heated expanded air to escape and decreases the chance of the egg cracking while being boiled. Another simple trick is to let the egg be at room temperature before placing in boiling water.

Now I standing in front of my refrigerator and I have boiled eggs and raw eggs, but I can’t tell them apart. This is what I do. I put them on the kitchen counter and spin them. The ones that spins easily and fast are the boiled eggs, the ones that flounder are the raw egg.

When chickens lay their eggs there is a protective membrane on the outside of the egg that is usually destroyed with washing the egg. Once the membrane is removed it decreases the shelf life of the egg. Chickens that hatch their own chicks will lay eggs for about a month. The eggs she sits on could vary in age by weeks, yet when she hatches them they all hatch at once. The large air bubble at the top of the egg is for the baby chick to breath prior to hatching.