How To Tell If Eggs Are Good

When you find a good deal on eggs it is smart to stock up on this frugal protein staple. While you can freeze eggs for future use and you can get plenty of use out of eggs with these easy egg recipes it is still not uncommon to find eggs shoved at the back of the refrigerator or farm-fresh eggs shoved behind something on the counter.

Instead of throwing the eggs out learn how to tell if eggs are good or if they have gone bad without risking breaking a bad egg.

How to tell if your eggs are still good

The expiration date on the side of your package of eggs is more of a sell-by date and is highly unreliable for determining if eggs are still good enough to use.

The best way to determine if eggs are still good is to use the float test. Grab a bowl of ice cold water. Place eggs gently into the water. If they stay flat on the bottom they are extremely fresh. these eggs have a long time left to hem before they go bad and can be stored longer.

If the eggs stand up or tilt up while still at the bottom of the bowl they are still good and just right for making hardboiled eggs. These will peel easily and still hold all of the nutrition and flavor of the fresh eggs.

If your eggs float at the top of the water they are past their prime and may have a sulfur-like smell. Carefully disposed of these eggs to avoid them cracking inside your home leaving behind a rotten egg smell.

What to do if you crack a bad egg?

While just past their prime eggs won’t cause a problem if you crack them you may find yourself in the position of having cracked an egg that had long gone bad. Whether the egg is cooked or not a truly rotten egg will leave a smell behind that you won’t soon forget.

I still distinctly remember the smell left behind one summer when we discovered an easter egg that had been lost in a window sill.

To get rid of this odor from a rotten egg clean the area with vinegar. Leave a small dish of vinegar in the room to help absorb the odor. Open windows. As the vinegar dries it will stop smelling and take the smell of the rotten egg with it.