By purchasing eggs, we essentially buy a cat in a sack. After all, stamps on the packaging do not always correspond to reality, and in the market when selling a home-made product is completely absent.
With proper storage, eggs can remain fit for more than a month. But not always on the poultry farms and in the points of sale of eggs the necessary conditions are observed, thereby speeding up the spoilage of the product.
In order to verify the freshness of eggs or determine its degree, you can use a simple technique, which we will discuss further.
Checking eggs for freshness in water
Available and quick to determine the freshness of eggs can be with the help of salted water.
Fresh eggs have almost no air inside, and the shell is snug against the membrane, so if you put such an egg in a container of salted water, it will sink to the bottom and take a horizontal position.
When stored through the pores of the egg shell, the air gradually penetrates inside, the membrane moves away from the shell, thereby increasing the air bag. The more the egg is stored, the more inside the air, which, if stored improperly and at high temperatures, contributes to the development of bacteria and the rapid deterioration of the product. Such an egg, when it is lowered into water, will float on the surface.
With the help of water, you can not only check the freshness of eggs, but also determine its degree. After a simple test, you will be able to find out whether the purchased eggs are suitable for cooking poached and dietary food or whether they will fit only for boiling and adding to the salad.
Determination of the freshness of eggs in a glass with water
- The first seven days of eggs are considered dietary and can be used for cooking poached eggs, scrambled eggs, biscuits, as well as various desserts and other dishes where the freshness of the product is important. If the egg, immersed in a glass of water, sank to the very bottom and took a horizontal position - it is beyond any doubt fresh and can be used for any dish.
- Eggs with freshness from a week to two will pop up a little with a blunt end up, but the sharp one will still touch the bottom. These eggs can be boiled hard, used to fry an omelet, but when cooking poached such an egg will simply be scattered in the water. If you break a two-week egg into a frying pan, the protein will spread out like a pancake in a frying pan and it will not turn out to be a beautiful omelet.
- Eggs that are more than two weeks old, but still fit for food, will occupy a vertical position in the center of the glass with a blunt end up. The sharp end does not touch the bottom. Such eggs can only be boiled hard , and for ten minutes or more from the boiling point and used in salads or other dishes as needed. The advantage of this is not the first freshness of eggs is that they, unlike fresh ones, are always perfectly cleaned.
- If, on checking, the egg floats to the surface of the water and assumes a horizontal position, it is clearly spoiled, the decomposition process has begun and it can no longer be used for food.
How to check the freshness of quail eggs in water?
The structure of quail eggs is the same as in chicken, so check their freshness in the water can be guided by the information described above. Fresh eggs will drown to the bottom, and the spoiled will float to the surface of the water in a glass.
Now you know how to know the freshness of eggs in the water and you can determine it at any time at home. But to keep the eggs fresh as long as possible, you do not need to wash them before you send them to the refrigerator right after the purchase. Yes, and a test for freshness in water is best done immediately before use. Upon contact with water, the eggshell removes the protective shell, which covers the pores, which significantly shortens the period of preservation of the product, since air begins to penetrate much faster.