who doesn't refrigerate their eggs?

[mle022]

@mle022 Do you use a special egg wash or sanitizer, or just soapy water?

Honestly, I haven't used any soap, although I probably should.

We just wash our hands a lot after handling the eggs.

 

[torilovessmiles]

I put mine in the fridge eventually but it's nothing for them to sit out on the counter for quite some time! I usually just wash them before I use them if they're really dirty, except for the eggs I sell. If they're really, really dirty, I'll wipe them off with a damp cloth. Plain water doesn't wash the oils off like power washing or egg cleansers.
My grandmother said that they never put eggs in the fridge when she was a child, they belonged on the counter!

 

[HeritageGoose13]

Since most of the world do not wash their eggs, I wonder if they treat the eggs with some type of sanitizer

If they did that, they would be washing the eggs.
They do not. Eggs become more dangerous and susceptible to bacteria when washed. It removes the protective layer.

 

[torilovessmiles]

If they did that, they would be washing the eggs.
They do not. Eggs become more dangerous and susceptible to bacteria when washed. It removes the protective layer.

Yes, as long as the "bloom" or oil coating is there, bacteria does not enter the egg. You can prevent contamination of your food by cracking the egg on the counter instead of the bowl, since almost all of the bacteria is on the shell

 

[whittychick]

Honestly, I haven't used any soap, although I probably should.   We just wash our hands a lot after handling the eggs. 

I do the same. I never wash eggs with soap just water

 

[WVDoug]

I wash and refrigerate all the eggs I sell, as required by WV law.

The ones that are too small, extra-jumbo (won't fit in the carton), or deformed I leave in a bowl on the counter for my own use. I don't even wash those before using unless they are "dirty".

 

[torilovessmiles]

I wash and refrigerate all the eggs I sell, as required by WV law.

The ones that are too small, extra-jumbo (won't fit in the carton), or deformed I leave in a bowl on the counter for my own use. I don't even wash those before using unless they are "dirty".

I do wash the eggs I sell as well, unless someone asks me not to. Older folks sometimes like them better that way

And, Hi from Fayette County!

 

[FrogRaku]

Ditto on the leaving them on the counter, but washing, refridgerating, and using any dirty ones the next day. In Europe, the eggs are just on the grocery shelves.

 

[bruceha2000]

I only routinely wash eggs that were laid over night on the coop floor - pretty much guaranteed to have been pooped on and the side of the shells that were down in the pine shavings have a different color shade and texture. It is very rare that there is ever anything other than a shaving bit or small feather on an egg laid in the nest boxes.

I don't have a lot of spare eggs but the ones I do sell go to a couple of people I used to work with and they know I don't wash or refrigerate. I always mark the date they were laid and the weight on the eggs. If they get one that says "washed" they know it wasn't totally clean out of the nest. But I NEVER give them the "coop floor" eggs, just sometimes there is mud on the eggs that didn't brush off so in THEIR case, "washed" means I ran water over them and lightly brushed them if necessary. So yes, the "bloom" in that area might be thinned or missing and they should use those eggs first. If those will be around for more than a day or so, I toss them in the refrigerator for family use.

This is why commercial eggs have to be refrigerated, they are washed to an inch of their lives in hot water with soap. The shells are no longer a "sealed container" impervious to bacteria after that:

The reason, as I understand it, that it is ILLEGAL to sell washed eggs in some countries is that the farms MUST keep a clean facility for their hens if they can't wash away the evidence that they don't. And since they are not washed they do NOT need to be refrigerated, an unnecessarily expensive undertaking. The video says you can keep washed eggs in the refrigerator for 3 weeks with no loss of quality. From experiments I have read I believe the number is a lot longer from a purely "when is the egg spoiled" POV but I'm sure they err on the side of "DON'T SUE US".

Un-washed eggs on the counter at room temperatures will also keep for weeks and they start at a higher quality that what you get at the store since you took them out of the nest "today" and you don't know when the one in the store were laid, probably not the day you bought them. Possibly not even the week you bought them. And then you might not use them for a week or two so they are already "well aged' when you do.

Quality means a couple of things.
1) "safety" - there is bacteria everywhere so even in the refrigerator (never had mold on cheese right?

) if any bacteria got on the outside of the now totally unprotected shells (the eggs in the carton of course NOT hermetically sealed from the surrounding bacteria filled air from the time they leave the factory washing facility until you eat them), it will be on and potentially in the washed eggs. Thus the refrigeration requirement - to slow down the bacterial growth.
2) Grade - How high the yolk sits and how "firm" the white is. Since AAA is "just laid" and the grade declines over time, you will likely never see a carton marked AAA. You can get AAs but they will only last that way for so long before they become A, which is mostly what you see in the store. And in most cases, you have NO IDEA when that store egg was laid.

For your personal comparison, get a generic store egg from a friend (because you have hens and don't buy eggs) and crack them open side by side. Observe the differences. Other that the yolk being a LOT more yellow orange, especially if your hens get outside the coop and eat the natural food of chickens - bugs, worms, plants, the yolk will be more rounded and "sit" higher on top of a thicker white. As they age, the yolk will not sit as high, the white will get runny. They are still edible but a far cry from AAA. This happens to all eggs, it is not a "washed" vs "unwashed" thing.

BTW, if you crack the eggs on a counter instead of the edge of a bowl, you are much less likely to get small shell fragments and much less likely for fragments to end up in the bowl.

 

[ladyearth]

I heard a guy on a survival type radio program I believe on" RBN" say that egg could be kept long time if coated with mineral oil.. dont quote me but I thought I heard him say that..
prob a food grade mineraloil like from a drug store I presume....