It sounds gross but...can you eat duck eggs?

[RunnerWhisperer]

I have a question about duck eggs: How long can you keep them in the fridge? The same as chicken eggs?

I am leary of trying duck eggs only because I am a picky egg eater anyway. Sometimes I get grossed out with chicken eggs so eating duck eggs to me is like going from store bought beef to big game meat. Yuk! lol I am up to trying them though, at least by using them to bake with first. Maybe moving to french toast and so on till I am over it! The tricky part will be trying to find where she lays them since they have the run of the yard all day. And the other concearn is if the dogs would eat the egg's before I find them? I guess I will find out!

 

[zzGypsy]

Quote:
In general, they'll keep longer because the shells are thicker. eggs spoil because bacteria get inside, or because they dehydrate... thicker shells slow down air exchange and are less likely to have open pores and cracks. unwashed eggs with the bloom on (which helps to seal the shell) keep even longer.

Before I first started supplying all my friends with duck eggs (when I had the 18-eggs a day Goldens), I had quite a surplus. I'd heard that duck eggs, especially because of their thicker shells, would keep "quite a long time" at room temp (if unwashed to leave the bloom intact.) Being an engineer, "quite a long time" was not a very satisfying bit of info.

So, I conducted The Great Egg Experiment.

I collected 4 days worth of eggs, about 60 eggs, unwashed, in standard egg cartons on my counter. After about a week, I'd check the eggs every couple of days, removing any that had darkened, or showed dark lines or cracks (signs of spoilage) or seemed particulary light (signs of dehydration). Once a week, I'd crack one or two open to see how they were doing. Here's what I learned.

Some small percentage will spoil. perhaps a dozen or so out of the 60ish eggs showed signs of spoilage or dehydrated quickly.

Some smaller percentage will lose a fair amount of moisture and dehydrate and get gummy, I think there were 5 or 6 of these. the air pocket enlarges inside the shell, the egg gets smaller and denser, basically dries out somewhat, but doesn't spoil. I don't know what the food safety folks will say, but I've got a 50-something year old cookbook that says use 'em in baking anyway if they don't smell bad or look discolored, just add cooking oil to make up the missing volume. (BTW, I *don't* use them anyway, so I don't know if that works or not. My dogs got the gummy ones. The dogs are still alive.)

The majority of the eggs were good when I cracked them. some had slightly larger air pockets inside the shells, and some had slightly less clear whites (a little foggy), but they hadn't changed color, smell, texture in any significant way. So I ate them. (not only are the dogs still alive, but so am I!)

I ran out of counter-stored eggs 4 and a half months into the process.

So, according to The Great Egg Experiment, intact unwashed duck eggs will keep on the counter 4.5 months or maybe longer.

of course you do want to check for spoilage more frequently... any that turn can become pressurized stink grenades waiting to go off when bumped.

at any rate I keep my eggs on the counter, and just rotate them so I use the older ones first. and because we eat a lot of them, there's little chance that any of them will get more than a week old.

One last thought, I've been told by a former egg-producing professional that once an egg is refrigerated, it must be kept refrigerated from then on. if it's subsequently stored at room temperature an infertile egg will spoil and a fertile one will start to develop a duckling/chick and then rot.

 

[GrannyCarol]

When we first went to get ducks, we bought some duck eggs (for a high price) at an Asian store. They were awful, very fishy. I don't know if the ducks were fed a lot of fish or if they were the aged eggs that are often used in Asian cuisine. We couldn't eat six of them. I was a little worried, but trusted what I'd heard, that, if fed like chickens, their eggs will taste like chicken eggs. When they started to lay, I could tell a difference in flavor - not major, but they were stronger flavored. I found that, if you overcook them in the fry pan, the whites do get rubbery. I started eating them in omelets with onion, pepper, spices and cheese. They are wonderful that way. I don't notice any difference in flavor unless they are fried plain. Now, years later, I'm very used to them and find chicken eggs a bit strange!

I'll agree with using them for baking... in fact, it must be time to go bake something!

I put them in my breads and they turn out wonderful. This is my bread machine basic bread recipe, if anyone wants to try it!

I use a large Pyrex measuring bowl and I put in:

1 1/3 cup warm water
2 duck eggs
2 tsp salt
3 TBS sugar
2 TBS olive oil
1 (or so, enough to color it) tsp molasses

Then I whisk it up well and put that in the bottom of the bread machine pan.

I grind 2 cups whole wheat (you can use any whole wheat I'm sure) and dump that in.
Then I add 1 1/2 cups of bread flour

2 tsp yeast

and I run it for normal white bread with a medium crust, 2 lb loaf.

I've started using more yeast and the rapid cycle and am getting a nice loaf in just over 2 hours.

If anyone tries it, let me know how it works out for you!

 

[RunnerWhisperer]

Quote:
In general, they'll keep longer because the shells are thicker. eggs spoil because bacteria get inside, or because they dehydrate... thicker shells slow down air exchange and are less likely to have open pores and cracks. unwashed eggs with the bloom on (which helps to seal the shell) keep even longer.

Before I first started supplying all my friends with duck eggs (when I had the 18-eggs a day Goldens), I had quite a surplus. I'd heard that duck eggs, especially because of their thicker shells, would keep "quite a long time" at room temp (if unwashed to leave the bloom intact.) Being an engineer, "quite a long time" was not a very satisfying bit of info.

So, I conducted The Great Egg Experiment.

I collected 4 days worth of eggs, about 60 eggs, unwashed, in standard egg cartons on my counter. After about a week, I'd check the eggs every couple of days, removing any that had darkened, or showed dark lines or cracks (signs of spoilage) or seemed particulary light (signs of dehydration). Once a week, I'd crack one or two open to see how they were doing. Here's what I learned.

Some small percentage will spoil. perhaps a dozen or so out of the 60ish eggs showed signs of spoilage or dehydrated quickly.

Some smaller percentage will lose a fair amount of moisture and dehydrate and get gummy, I think there were 5 or 6 of these. the air pocket enlarges inside the shell, the egg gets smaller and denser, basically dries out somewhat, but doesn't spoil. I don't know what the food safety folks will say, but I've got a 50-something year old cookbook that says use 'em in baking anyway if they don't smell bad or look discolored, just add cooking oil to make up the missing volume. (BTW, I *don't* use them anyway, so I don't know if that works or not. My dogs got the gummy ones. The dogs are still alive.)

The majority of the eggs were good when I cracked them. some had slightly larger air pockets inside the shells, and some had slightly less clear whites (a little foggy), but they hadn't changed color, smell, texture in any significant way. So I ate them. (not only are the dogs still alive, but so am I!)

I ran out of counter-stored eggs 4 and a half months into the process.

So, according to The Great Egg Experiment, intact unwashed duck eggs will keep on the counter 4.5 months or maybe longer.

of course you do want to check for spoilage more frequently... any that turn can become pressurized stink grenades waiting to go off when bumped.

at any rate I keep my eggs on the counter, and just rotate them so I use the older ones first. and because we eat a lot of them, there's little chance that any of them will get more than a week old.

One last thought, I've been told by a former egg-producing professional that once an egg is refrigerated, it must be kept refrigerated from then on. if it's subsequently stored at room temperature an infertile egg will spoil and a fertile one will start to develop a duckling/chick and then rot.

Lot's of great info!! Thank you! And you touched on another question that I was wondering as well. Washing the eggs and if it was even necessary?

 

[zzGypsy]

before storing, I don't wash them unless they are especially, obnoxiously you're-not-bringing-THAT-in-the-house dirty. If I do need to wash, I either use it right away or store it in the fridge (for chicken eggs) or on the counter (duck and goose eggs) but mark it for quick use. If the shells are just messy or muddy, I'll wash them before I crack them, so nothing icky falls off or gets wiped off by the egg inside. if I'm boiling (coddling) them, I wash them really well before they go in the pan... just in case one cracks, I don't want to be boiling it in whatever was on the outside of the eggshell.

Early in the laying season, before the ducks figure out where the eggs are supposed to go, they lay them EVerywhere... which means I sometimes find them in the mud puddle around their water pan. If those have been there more than a day, the dogs get them... just because I don't know WHAT they've been soaking in. otherwise, I don't worry about the muck on the outside of the shell. I generally keep water in their night-pen for them to play in and somehow my ducks have never learned to wipe their feet before they go in the nest to lay... end result is the majority of eggs have little muddy duck footprints on them. not so great if you're planning to sell them, but I don't mind if they're for my own use.

and do mind that the bloom on duck eggs is SLIPPERY when it gets wet, so handle the duck eggs carefully when you wash them. i don't notice with the fresh chicken eggs.

happy egging!

 

[m.kitchengirl]

as a chef, i prefer duck eggs to chicken for baking (that's a big reason why i am keeping ducks). i have also read that they are not alkaline & therefore recommended for people who are undergoing/ have undergone cancer treatment. i am sure their lack of alkali is also what makes them so good for baking. i feel i get a richer flavor and a lighter texture when i bake with them - especially custards, creme brulee, cheesecakes - but i honestly don't enjoy them for eating as much. (although i find this to be very variable by both breed & diet.)
i would say eating a duck egg is as "weird" as keeping ducks, or joining BYC forum. try it! shake things up. life is about adventures, of all shapes & sizes.