How to wash duck eggs for consumption?

[katharinad]

I'm sure this has been discussed at one point or the other and some don't even bother to wash them. I'm still interested to hear what washing methods are being used. Right now I put them into a bowl with warm water and add a drop of dish washing liquid to it. I let it sit for one minute and wash it off using a tooth brush where needed. I have seen cleaning buckets with an air compressor on it. I could probably build one like that with an aquarium air pump and some air stones on a smaller scale. Wonder if a water pump would do the same. Circulating the water around the eggs. What about the commercial cleaners. They come in liquid and powder forms. Are they any good or worse the expense? I have not tried bleach yet, because I fear that the smell may be effecting the taste. Anyway, just curious and we may plan on selling eggs down the road at which point I will need to wash them.

 

[gofasterstripe]

I had the same dilema as you..I didnt wash my eggs and NOONE bought them. My neighbor told me to was them in a Gal water and a cap of bleach but I didnt like the sound of that.
Now all I do is lay a towel down so they dont roll off the counter, rinse them all in water 1 at a time, leave to stand for a few mins them wash them with a green and yellow sponge thing you wash your dishes with. They come up nice and clean, and without chemicals.

 

[spinn]

I've been using a "Magic Sponge" (well...the store brand version), and it works great! Barely wet the sponge and egg...and gently clean with the sponge.

spinn

 

[MrsDuck]

We just wash with tap water and a little scrubbie brush. Most of the time they come out perfectly clean, but every once in a while there's a stubborn spot.

Here's the brush we use (it works really well - we use them all over the house, but the one for the eggs has "quack" written on the back):

http://www.leevalley.com/US/garden/page.aspx?p=10259&cat=2,42551,10259

 

[A.T. Hagan]

I wash all of my eggs. We gather into an egg basket. At washing time I pour hot soapy water over them then wash each one by hand under warm running water at least twenty degrees warmer than the egg. The washed eggs go into a colander until I dry them.

I don't ordinarily sanitize them but the times that I have I use a tablespoon of plain, laundry bleach to a gallon of warm water poured over the eggs. This doesn't affect the egg flavor as it does not readily penetrate the shells and quickly evaporates.

 

[Smiles-N-Sunshine]

I rinse the eggs one by one quickly in warm (almost hot) water. By the time I'm done with the last one, the first one has it's "cling-ons" well softened. Then I hold each egg under the faucet and rub with my thumb until clean. No bleach/sanitizer, but it probably couldn't hurt.

I find the shells usually stay slightly stained. Has anyone else experienced this? The eggs are almost-white from Khaki Campbells.

Bryan

 

[mommyofthree]

I just get a washcloth wet with warm/hot water and give them a good scrub. I get the really dirty spots off and my eggs look pretty clean, but you can still see that there's a bit of a "film" on them. I hate to wash them too much or scrub too hard because I've heard that there's a protective layer on them that keeps bacteria out....or is that only chicken eggs and not duck eggs?? I wonder if duck eggs are different with the shell being so much thicker. Anyway, I sell mine to a few different people and no one has complained about the eggs. I am pretty picky myself and think of the fact that if I was going to buy them that I would want them to look clean, so I scrub them up to my standards.

My chicken eggs are rarely dirty so I don't wash those, if they do have a dirty spot I will rinse it off just before I use it. I only sell the ones that come out of the boxes really clean.

 

[Blooming chicks]

I soak mine in barely-warm water with a drop of Dawn for a few minutes to losen any debris and then scrub them off. Every once in a while there is a subborn stain that wont come off, but mostly they come out very white.

 

[T Hi]

I rinse in HOT water to loosen any poo ickies. Then use a drop of mild detergent on a toothbrush do a soft scrub and voila!! Mine lay a pale green egg and sometimes there is a bit of stain but for the most part they are GORGEOUS!!

 

[tia]

Thank you for all the information... I wasn't sure I was doing it right. I was just rinsing mine with water warmer than the egg and wiping them off with a clean, dry paper towel.