Peeling fresh eggs

I read with interest your post on using your “surplus” of eggs by pickling them. Do you have a secret to getting your FRESH eggs to come out whole after they are boiled? Mine are always just a mess and I can’t use them for anything except egg salad..

Ramona B.
South Carolina

I know what you mean. I DO let my fresh eggs sit around for a couple of weeks before pickling or hardboiling them for that very reason. What I do with fresher eggs is to add half a cup of vinegar to the water, put the eggs in cold water, and turn on the heat. After boiling, I immediately drain the water and toss them up and down in the dry pan to crack them. Then I chill with cold water, then let them sit in cold water for several hours. By starting with the large end, where the air space usually is, I peel them after rolling a bit with the flat of my hand on a hard surface. Be sure to get the thin membrane right away; the egg’s slick under it but with fresh eggs you sometimes can’t get under it to start the egg peeling. Once you get under the membrane, the shell peels away pretty well. — Jackie

Storing eggs

No one else in my house is big on pickled things but I want to store my surplus eggs for leaner times. Can they be canned without pickling? And I saw a lady on Doomsday Preppers rubbing them down with some sort of oil (vegetable?) and saying they could be stored at room temp this way for extended periods of time. Have you ever heard of this method and if so do you have any specifics on it?

Grace Johnston
Tangier, Indiana

No, you can’t can eggs without pickling them. We use pickled eggs for deviled eggs and egg salad. To keep eggs for extended periods, just keep them in a cool area such as an unheated root cellar, basement, or back closet that is very cool. They will keep this way nearly all winter. You can block the pores of the eggs with vegetable oil or by submersing them in waterglass. They might keep a little longer, but I find them kind of nasty to handle and have not found it necessary. Our chickens lay, without a lighted coop, from March through December and I’ve kept fresh eggs over winter until they started again in the spring. — Jackie

7 COMMENTS

  1. Boiled fresh eggs, this really works, Bring water to full rolling boil. gently place eggs (fresh from the nest or frig )into rolling water,boil for 8 minutes and rince with cold water!!! Works every time!!!

  2. After Easter my fresh eggs haven’t been selling so since my kids love pickled eggs I have been pickling them. The best way I have found to peel them is boil them then let them sit till the water is cold. Then I use a thin spoon to stick in between the egg and the shell and then just pull the shell off. These are fresh eggs not more than 2 days old and it works perfectly for me.

  3. The lady on the nat geo show doomsday preppers is named Kellene and she has a web site: preparednesspro.com/ . Her egg trick is using mineral oil that is warmed on a stove. You lightly coat the egg with the warm oil and then put it back in the carton. She has kept them for up to nine months. She said the yolk thins out over time, but as long as you keep it dark and cool it works. She said the coating process is for store eggs that have been washed. There is a coating on the egg when it is laid that is washed off.
    I usually just peel my HB eggs in cold water.
    This is a great site. I have learned so much from this site. Thank you.

  4. I tried everything to make the eggs easy to peel; and I figured out that if you put them in the freezer after you drain them until they get cold; make sure not to freeze them and they will peel easily and it doesn’t take but a few minutes. This method is tried and true. Let me know how it worked.

  5. I just learned this week that, if you steam your fresh eggs for 20 minutes, they will be much easier to peel. It causes the membrane to stick to the shell and not the egg.

  6. Hi, Last year I froze eggs, just 6 eggs slightly beaten in a ziploc bag and they are very good for baking, scrambled eggs, omelettes. i did about 72 eggs and they were just like the fresh eggs. You have to beat them slightly otherwise the yolk dries out. You can also keep eggs (unwashed!!) for at least 3 months, I heard from people who had them for 9 months and they were still good.

  7. When we were in Alaska we had a few eggs all winter long by having a light on in the coop. There are some people who are off grid that probably can’t do that, but just wanted to share. Oh, if you want, you can get a good lamp that is battery operated and put it in there. It doesn’t take a lot of light to get some eggs coming. And if you have some light throughout the day you won’t have to run the lamp 24/7. They only need about 14 hours.

Comments are closed.