To wash or not to wash??

[CassInMass]

I bought some Egg Washer Pro when I ordered my chicks from McMurray, but I have read that it is bad to wash eggs before you put them in the fridge. It will be a while before I need to worry about it, but should I wash the eggs or is it better not to wash them?

 

[Colored Egg Farmer]

best to keep them un washed. it removes the "bloom" with help protect the egg. but if it is really dirty its a good idea to wash them and use them first.

 

[K-Chick]

I only wash the dirty ones and then I try to spot wash. If you do I heard that you need to dry them right away.

 

[gritsar]

I don't wash the eggs I keep for my family's consumption. I do wash my egg customers egg because they insist. I wash them as soon as I collect them, in the hottest water I can stand to put my hands under. Dry immediately and refrigerate.

 

[digitS']

One of the pleasures of having backyard laying hens is fresh eggs.

One of the unpleasantries is having chicken poop. The hens aren't "allowed" on the deck, but I manage to track it up there. The shoes come off before I go thru the back door but I'm not going to carry chicken poop into the house and put it in my fridge.

The eggs usually have nothing on them but a little smear of this or that. But, I'm perfectly happy to wash them in the sink with hot/hot water and some soap. They are then dried with a paper towel and placed in the fridge. Never have I had an egg "go bad" in the week or so that it is in refrigeration. I remember a Mother Earth News article where volunteers were sampling washed and unwashed eggs that were months and months old. They found very little difference in their "freshness" and were happy doing the tasting - not me.

I fairly closely follow advice from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln poultry folks. If I had eggs as dirty as some of the ones in their photographs, however, I'd probably throw them away! Fresh clean eggs, that is what I'm going for.

Steve

 

[sarafrog]

I recently read about this in a book or magazine article that it's best not to wash them until you're ready to use them as the bloom helps to seal out bacteria. The recommendation was to wipe dirty eggs with a dry paper towel, if needed. For really dirty eggs, it was suggested to wash with water, dry thoroughly, and then rub with a small amount of cooking oil to restore some of the protection that the bloom provides.

I only have 2 laying hens right now so I rarely have a problem with the eggs being dirty. I imagine this will change as my pullets grow up and start sharing the nesting boxes, too.

 

[FrenchHen]

After 30 years of eating grocery store washed eggs, I couldn't stand to not wash mine.

So I did. For a while

It matters about the bloom and all that, but it doesn't matter that much (to me).

It's your house, your fridge. Wash if you will. It won't hurt you, or the eggs.

don't expect a consensus here. If you're going to sell or give away the eggs, you might find folks resistant to unwashed eggs.

 

[BawkinOnTheBench]

We've had an outbreak of what is probably Salmonella among the wild birds here. Before that, I didn't wash my eggs. And then I got paranoid, because I sell them. I don't usually have very dirty eggs, though when I rains and the chickens feet get muddy it is more of an issue.

So what I've been doing is using fine sandpaper to remove any little smudges on the egg, then I dip each egg in a 10% bleach solution, and then dip in warm fresh water to rinse off the bleach, and let air dry before putting in the fridge. On the rare occasion an egg is too dirty to get clean with the sandpaper, I don't sell it.

At least it makes me feel like I'm doing something responsible to protect my customers.

 

[morganel]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned that you don't have to refrigerate unwashed eggs. This is certainly a nice bonus. Room temperature eggs are better for baking and the shells seem to come off more easily when they're hard boiled.

 

[CassInMass]

How long are the unwashed eggs good if you don't refridgerate them ??