How long before they "expire"?

[skeeter]

people must not have had eggs before refrigerators

 

[HickChick Wannabe]

I've had people ask me that question, too. I've heard about the floating egg test, but the reason for it is that the shell is porous. When the humidity around the egg is low (like in a refrigerator) the liquid will slowly evaporate from inside the egg, enlarging the air space. So that will tell you how old the egg is, but not whether it's still good or not. I'd be interested in finding out just how old some eggs are that people have eaten (and lived!

)

 

[MissPrissy]

How do you think people stored eggs before there was such a thing as refrigeration?

 

[MrsCountryChick]

My Aunt & Uncle... longtime farmers would seem to always have eggs. They had an extra refrigerator in the garage for storing their fresh farm eggs. I asked them yrs ago how they knew an egg was good or not & they said crack it open & smell it in a bowl. They said a bad egg will have a 'smell' & they did keep eggs for awhile to have a nearly full frig. Sure they had quite a few chickens, but not a ton. They'd always put the freshest eggs on the bottom & take cartons from the top, where they were the oldest, so they'd keep them used by age. We could never leave without a dozen of eggs, till we go our own chickens.

 

[arlee453]

I use the rotation method too - I use the bottom shelf of my fridge and the oldest eggs are always on the right, and the newest ones on the left.

Of course, my eggs are all given away within a week of being laid, so they don't last that long in MY fridge

I don't sell mine, but share with friends, family, my students and my church. Between those folks I can always find a home for my extra eggs.