Egg Washing and Shelf-life

[Eggstravaganza]

I know this doesn't really belong in this forum, but I couldn't really find a place for it. What is the best way to wash eggs getting them clean without taking off any protective coating or anything that'll decrease shelf-life? I've just heard about how store-bought eggs are often washed with chlorine or something which ends up taking off a coating, though that's probably completely different. Someone even told me that in places like France, where the eggs are not required to be washed in chlorine, you can keep the eggs at room temperature and they'll stay good for a while. This leads me to my second question- about how long do home-grown eggs stay good? Any longer or shorter than store-bought eggs?

 

[15shenyl]

I never wash my eggs unless they really need to be washed, but I run them under water and scrub off the bad stuff. I know you can buy things to wash them with. I don't know how to answer the shelf life question because we never have eggs for very long, they are used or I sell them to people at church. I also think the eggs over in places in France are fertal eggs, there not like eggs grade AA eggs or how ever the grading scale goes.

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

The absolute best thing to do is keep your nest boxes clean enough that most eggs don't need to be washed in the first place.

If you really don't want to wash them when they are dirty, some people use fine sandpaper to take the yuck off.

Washed or not, they will last for a REALLY long time. I don't wash eggs for our personal use. For most of our eggs, though, we wash them in a chlorinated egg wash because we sell them (and just got picked up by a grocery store, I'm so excited and I have to brag!

) and our eggs are edible after MONTHS. They don't last as long as if I hadn't washed them, but they last plenty long even after being scrubbed. Here's an interesting article for you: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Sustainable-Farming/1977-11-01/Fresh-Eggs.aspx

If you do wash them, use water as hot as you can stand. I'm trying to remember which University did the study, but it's been shown that water that's hotter than the egg will force air and dirt and bacteria OUT of the pores of the egg. If you wash an egg in water that's colder than the egg, you will force dirt and bacteria IN.

Oh, and to answer 15shenyl above--our eggs are fertile. We have three roosters. Read the article I linked above. Fertility doesn't affect storage time much.

 

[debid]

I only wash the dirty eggs and unless it's poop, it waits until I'm ready to use the egg (and then, just scalding hot water). The plastic egg bin gets washed regularly and the eggs are usually spotless. If you're selling,the rules are different but for personal use, I wouldn't bother. Eggs keep for months and it's obvious when they go bad.