How to check eggs in water. How to check if an egg is rotten? Determining freshness by shell temperature

Sometimes chicken eggs linger in the refrigerator for quite a long time, and it is difficult to remember how long they have been there. A week? Month? A few years? In order to protect yourself and your family from poisoning and a subsequent trip by ambulance to the hospital, you need to check the freshness and suitability of each egg before consumption. So, how to check the freshness of eggs?

First way:

Take the egg in your hand and shake it, but not too hard. If it is fresh, then there will be almost no shaking inside the shell, otherwise, that is, if the egg has been in your refrigerator for a long time, its internal contents will gurgle inside, and you will feel it.

Second way:

Also in order to check whether the egg is rotten or not, you can use plain water. Place some cool water in a saucepan, large glass, or similar and place the eggs in it. If they are fresh, they will remain at the bottom in a horizontal position. If they are in the refrigerator for a week, they will lie in the water at a slight angle. Completely stale eggs will float to the surface. This phenomenon is explained by the fact that the longer the egg lies, the more air accumulates in it (yes, yes, air even passes through the shell, eggs are not airtight). Accordingly, stale chicken eggs draw air to the surface. This process is depicted in more detail in the figure below.

Third way:

The freshness of an egg can be quite easily determined externally. The color tone of fresh eggs is even, the shell is clean and even slightly shiny. Stale eggs become dull and acquire a gray tint.

Greetings, dear friends! In this article we will talk to you about how to check the freshness of eggs in water, and also tell you about alternative testing options. Eggs are an indispensable product for weight loss. They are convenient and easy to prepare; a poached, hard-boiled or soft-boiled egg will be an excellent breakfast.

But for the product to be beneficial, it is important to buy only fresh. Finding out the quality and checking the suitability of eggs at home is not difficult. The test for good quality will take no more than 5 minutes.

Water method

The freshness of a product is determined by the date of its manufacture. The most useful and dietary product is considered to be a week old product. The maximum period for consuming an ingredient in food from the moment of birth is a month. You can make sure that a raw egg is fresh by dipping it in water with salt.

The test results may be as follows:

• the chicken ingredient has drowned - the product is fresh;
• it has fallen to the bottom, but the blunt end is slightly raised - the product is 1 week old;
• the vertical position of the egg indicates that it is already 2-3 weeks old;
• The “gift” from the hen floats in the water - it is unsuitable for cooking and eating.

This method is recognized as reliable, because it is based on elementary chemical reactions and physical processes. Fresh eggs have a very dense shell, and there is practically no air inside, so they are heavier. During storage, air gradually penetrates into the cavity, the membrane moves away from the shell, creating an air bag. The more air, the longer the shelf life, and the closer it is to the surface of the water. To better understand the selection principle, study the pictures.

You can determine the freshness of quail eggs in a similar way using water. Another option is to check using broken eggs. After cracking the shell, you need to carefully examine the condition of the yolk and white, smell, consistency, and shade. A spoiled product will have an incomparable aroma; in this situation it will be impossible to confuse it.

You can also check an already boiled egg for freshness at home. Only the ingredients that have been blown away from the chicken will be difficult to clean. 1-2 weeks old - easy to clean, the shell peels off on its own. Old eggs will have an unpleasant odor, a greenish tint and liquid inside.

Other verification options

All methods presented are applicable after purchasing the product. But you can protect yourself from wasting money on stale products in the store. To do this, you should carefully study the markings on the stamps. Products of this type are divided into three grades. The first is selected ingredients 1-2 weeks old. The third grade means that the product is about to expire.

On the stamp you can see the letter “D” - dietary or “C” - table, this means that the products are of the highest quality. Also look at the numbers on the mark, this is the date the product was taken from the chicken.

You can't test homemade chicken eggs like that. A different method is used for this. You need to put the egg to your ear and shake it. There should be no squelching or jolting inside. Impacts of the contents on the shell indicate that it is better not to buy the product.

Another interesting testing method is transillumination with an ovoscope. You can purchase such a device on the Internet or make it yourself. To do this, you need to take a box whose diameter is smaller than the egg, put it in the hole, and shine a flashlight from below. The shell will be translucent. The yolk should be located in the central part. All liquid should be as light as amber. The presence of spots and traces of the embryo is unacceptable.

See also video:

We hope our recommendations with photos will help you in the supermarket or market in choosing fresh produce. All methods are tested in practice and are as reliable as possible. Try them out and see for yourself. Share your experience with your friends; all you need to do is post a link to the article on your social media page. networks. Thanks in advance, and see you again!

Eggs- an indispensable ingredient in many dishes and wonderful nutritious food. It's no secret that there is no dish simpler than fried eggs, which is not easy to spoil, but can easily be complicated and diversified by adding additional ingredients.

Considering such a wide range of uses for this product and its popularity, many housewives always have a certain supply at home so that, if necessary, they can quickly prepare any dish containing it.

Caring for the health and well-being of our loved ones, we always want to feed them healthy and high-quality dishes made from fresh ingredients. Therefore, when buying products, we carefully select only the most attractive ones, selecting the best for our family. But if the freshness of some goods is easy to check right at the market or in a store, then others are not so easy to figure out.

Conventionally, all methods for checking the freshness of eggs can be divided into 2 groups: methods applicable BEFORE purchase and methods for checking ALREADY PURCHASED eggs.

You can determine the freshness of a given product without paying money for it. To do this, you do not need to perform complex manipulations or spend a lot of time. You can simply evaluate the product according to several criteria:

• Appearance of the shell. A fresh egg has a matte, rough, hard shell. A glossy, smooth, greasy surface of the product indicates that it is stale. It could be wiped down many times, put on a store shelf, trying to hide defects and signs of poor quality. And you definitely shouldn’t buy a soft-shelled egg; its freshness is forever a thing of the past. It is also worth comparing the appearance of all units of goods in the tray - if some are rough and others are smooth, it means enterprising sellers want to sell the stale product along with the fresh one. Cracks and dents in the casing do not necessarily indicate its unsuitability, but will reduce shelf life and increase the risk of harmful microbes and bacteria entering the contents.
• Sounds when shaken. If you take an egg with your thumb and forefinger and shake it thoroughly, you can hear gurgling or squelching inside - this is a “chatterbox”; it has long since gone rotten. A fresh product should not make almost any sounds, since its yolk is elastic and tightly surrounded by protein, and there is very little air. Over time, air enters through the shell, and the contents of the egg peel off from the shell. The older it is, the more air it contains and the weaker the protein chains become.
• Smell. A spoiled product emits an unpleasant odor even through the shell, so if you feel signs of a stale egg, it is better to refrain from such a purchase so as not to pay for garbage.
• Date of manufacture And best before date. Usually this information is indicated on the packaging. Although the actual shelf life of eggs usually exceeds the date stated by the manufacturer, be wary if you see that the date sticker may have been re-taped, or if this information is not on the product at all.

Determining the freshness of eggs at home

How to check the freshness of eggs in stock? All of the above methods also apply to home inspections. But there are 2 more tests that cannot be carried out during purchase. This is a direct inspection of the contents and a water test for freshness.

If you break a raw fresh egg onto a flat plate, it will not spread over the dish, but will hold the shape of a beautiful scrambled egg. If the yolk is oval in shape and resembles jelly in consistency, rising above the white that surrounds it and does not spread, then this means that you have a fresh dietary product. Many housewives are alarmed by inclusions of blood near the yolk, but in fact they do not bode well, unless there is a blood ring.

Such elements in the egg are the result of burst blood vessels during its formation. They are absolutely not harmful, and are even a sign of freshness, because during long-term storage they can dissolve in the protein.

You can determine the age of a product at home simply and reliably using ordinary water. Although there are suggestions that salted water is better for this test, they are not confirmed, since the results of experiments with salt and fresh water are the same. You need to take a tall vessel (glass, jar or bowl) and pour water into it approximately twice the diameter of the egg. After this, we simply lower the product into water. Then there are 3 options for the development of events:

1. The egg is sinking. If it sank to the bottom and took a horizontal position, it means the freshness is at the highest level, because this behavior is characteristic of an egg that has been stored for less than a week. This result is due to the small amount of air under the shell. Over time, more and more air enters through it, as well as a variety of bacteria, which can cause a process of decomposition of the contents, characterized by a pungent odor.
2. The product sinks under water and takes a vertical position, touching the bottom only with the sharp end. This indicates that it is still quite suitable for consumption, although it does not boast first-class freshness. Depending on how close to the bottom the egg is located, its “age” can range from one and a half to three weeks.
3. Float position. If the product does not sink, but floats on the surface of the water, you can safely throw it away, this means that it already contains a lot of air and has been stored for about a month, or longer. You can no longer eat it, as it may contain dangerous microorganisms that cause poisoning or even salmonellosis.

It is very important to follow some simple hygiene rules when using eggs in cooking. Here are some tips to help you avoid rancid troubles:

• Always choose fresh, labeled product and pay attention to the expiration date.
• The optimal temperature for storing eggs is below 6 degrees. In such conditions, the dangerous salmonella bacterium does not multiply, and vice versa - room temperature is the optimal environment for its spread.
• Washing eggs will help get rid of unwanted guests on the shell, but also deprives them of their natural protection, so when washed, the shelf life is significantly reduced.
• For baking and other dishes, it is best to use fresh ingredients. This will help you cook tasty and safe.
• Boil eggs for at least 5 minutes.
• The product can be used even after the expiration date, but only if properly stored and subjected to long-term heat treatment at a temperature of at least 70 degrees.
• A damaged shell increases the risk of bacteria entering the contents, so cracked or chipped eggs should never be stored. They must be prepared first, paying due attention to heat treatment.

Eggs are a source of many beneficial vitamins and minerals that our body needs, but the fresh product has the greatest value, so always check the expiration date before purchasing, avoid spoilage by following basic storage rules, and enjoy the dietary product with health benefits.

There are many traditional methods to determine the freshness of eggs.

1. Inspect the egg shell: a fresh egg has a hard shell. If the shell is soft, the egg is definitely rotten.

2. A fresh egg shines through in the sun, that is, you can see the yolk inside it.

The operation of a special device for candling eggs, the ovoscope, is based on this phenomenon. It consists of a camera and a lamp built into it. The chamber has oval holes in the shape of eggs. When examined with an ovoscope, a fresh egg’s contents are not dark, almost transparent, and the yolk is less noticeable than an old one. Even through the ovoscope, the air chamber at the blunt end of the egg is clearly visible: during long-term storage it increases in size.

3. Shake the egg well in your hand. If you feel that the yolk is moving from side to side, then it is better to throw out such an egg.

4. Place the egg in the water. A fresh egg will remain at the bottom, an old one will float to the surface.

5. Boiled fresh eggs are harder to peel than old ones. And the shells come off easily from stale ones.

6. Place the egg on a flat surface on the table and twist it vigorously. A fresh egg will not spin at all. But a stale egg spins freely.

7. A fresh egg is heavier than a stale one. But not everyone is able to determine the freshness of eggs by weight...

Did you know that...

• The shelf life of table eggs is 25 days.
• Based on freshness, eggs are divided into dietary and table. If an egg was laid by a chicken no later than seven days ago, it is a dietary egg; a week after its appearance, the egg becomes a table egg.

We buy eggs at the market or supermarket. Unfortunately, it is impossible to check this product for freshness right at the counter; you have to trust the stickers with the expiration date. And only at home you can understand whether the eggs were bought fresh or not.

It is simply impossible to determine the freshness of eggs, as they say “by eye”. This product can lie for a long time at room temperature and no external manifestations will be noticeable. Often buyers ask the seller how fresh the eggs are and the answer is always the same: “The eggs are fresh, take them.” You can check whether an egg is really fresh like this: break it and determine its freshness by its characteristic smell. If it is repulsive, then the egg is spoiled. But breaking eggs all the time is not part of our plans, so we will check the freshness of the eggs in other ways.

How to check the freshness of eggs in water

Take a large container, such as a saucepan. You need to pour cold water into it directly from the tap (no more than 10 cm), and then place the eggs in it. You can take turns so as not to get confused and determine the freshness of each product sequentially.

How to tell if eggs are fresh:

• If the eggs fall to the bottom and do not float to the top, then you are lucky - you bought fresh, fresh eggs.
• If you see that the eggs are slightly raised with the blunt tip up, this means that the eggs are no longer very fresh. They can still be used, but not fresh, but for preparing hot dishes (baked goods, scrambled eggs, omelettes).
• If the eggs float, then they are definitely spoiled and such a product is generally prohibited from being eaten. Such eggs must be thrown away immediately. Do you know why it happens that an egg floats to the surface in water? Every day the moisture gradually evaporates and this space is filled with air. The older the product, the more air it contains and therefore the eggs float.

There is another similar way to test eggs: you need to pour salt into the water to make the solution concentrated. You also need to lower the eggs and look: if they lie on the bottom, then the “age” of such a product is approximately 2 to 7 days. If the egg rises with the blunt end, and the sharp end remains “glued” to the bottom, then this product is approximately 10 days old. If the eggs float in a salty solution, then such eggs are already about 2 weeks old. If the eggs float to the surface of the saline solution and “stick out” from it, then such eggs are prohibited from being eaten; they are not fresh.

Other ways to check eggs for freshness

An egg can be broken if one of the eggs tested in water floats, and then the white and yolk can be examined. From the appearance of these components we can say the following:

• if the white is runny and the yolk has become flat, then the egg is not fresh;
• If the white is dense and viscous, and the yolk is convex, then the egg is fresh.

Another way to check eggs for freshness: you just need to shake the egg, if you don’t hear anything, then the eggs can be safely eaten, if you hear a “squish” or a splash, as well as any other sound, this means that there is air inside, which means This egg is no longer fresh and should not be eaten.

About the expiration date and storage rules for eggs

The manufacturer always indicates the expiration date of the product on the packaging. If the eggs were stored correctly, in compliance with all the rules, then they will be fresh.

What to look for when buying eggs:

• You need to buy fresh eggs, so pay attention to the expiration date of the product. If it's expired, don't take the risk.
• You need to store eggs in a cool place - in the refrigerator at a temperature no higher than +6 o C. If you keep eggs at home on the table, they will spoil faster.
• You need to cook the eggs for at least 5 minutes.
• If the expiration date has expired, then these eggs can be eaten, but only on the condition that the eggs were stored in the refrigerator and such a product must be cooked at a sufficiently high temperature (from +70 o C).
• If you see that the egg has burst, then it is prohibited to store it. It is advisable to prepare something from such a product.