We all know that when it comes to baking or cooking, all our ingredients must be fresh. In baking, you will find that you need eggs in almost all the recipes. They are a very important part of the texture of the cake/baked good. The freshness of an egg is something that should never be overlooked. So, how to test eggs for freshness?
I will present to you 2 methods that I really trust:
Method one:
Fill up a glass or bowl with tap water. You can also use a measuring cup like I did. Just be sure there is enough water to cover an egg. Put the egg in the glass/bowl. Three things can happen:
1. the egg lies on its side in the bottom. This means the egg is fresh
2. the egg stands upright on the bottom or in the middle. This means the egg is not that fresh. It is still perfectly acceptable to eat (as soon as possible) but I wouldn't recommend in baking.
3. The egg floats on the top. This means that the egg is already expired. It's not suitable neither to eat nor to use it in baking/cooking.
How do I know this method is good?
It's pretty simple. The eggshells are porous, and this means that they allow the air to get through. Fresh eggs have less air in them, and that is why they sink to the bottom. Older eggs have had more time for the air to enter the shells, so they will definitely float on top.
Method two:
Method two of how to test eggs for freshness is for those people who realize only after cracking the egg, that they are not sure about its freshness.
Once the egg is cracked, one these situations can appear:
- a thick white (which doesn't spread much) and a nice rounded yolk that will stand up. This means the egg is fresh.
- a thin egg white which spreads easily means that the egg is not that fresh;
- a very easy breakable yolk or a flattened one means the egg is old.
Let's make it more simple:
- check the egg white:
- if it's cloudy → egg is fresh
- if it's clear → egg is old
- check the yolk: - if it's round and firm → egg is fresh - if it breaks as soon as you crack it → egg is old.
This yolk broke as soon as I cracked the egg:
Just look how beautiful and round this fresh egg yolk is:
You can also give the egg a little sniff after it's cracked. The smell of a rotten egg is something you can't miss. If the egg smells bad after cracking it, you should definitely through it away.
If you are buying the eggs from the store, don't forget that sometimes the expiration dates will not tell you precisely about the freshness of an egg.
If you have your own chickens (like I do) testing the freshness of an egg is still important. Why? Well, I, for example, don't really remember when I collected the eggs. I don't store them accordingly to the date I collect them. So I always make sure I don't use an old egg.
What about you? Do you know any other tips on how to test eggs for freshness? I would love to hear them. Make sure you spread the love and share this post.
Happy Baking!
Wow, I learn something new today from this post, how to check if the egg is fresh or old. I eat eggs daily and I am going check my eggs before I consume them.
ReplyDeleteThis is really handy for me. My daughter has just started eating eggs and I am always unsure of how fresh they are.
ReplyDeleteThis is really fascinating. I never thought much about the eggs freshness other than the expiration date. I am going to look a little closer from now on though.
ReplyDeleteWowww. I am gonna try it by myself letss see. Others too try it
ReplyDeleteI will keep this in mind. Sometimes I have no idea if the eggs are okay or not. I would hate to throw them out if they were still okay!
ReplyDeleteThis is really great it is never nice when you end up with a rotten egg and don't know.
ReplyDeleteI knew about the floating test, but not about the yolk. Thanks for sharing! I always try to keep things as long as possible, but of course without being unsafe too.
ReplyDeleteGood tips! Eggs go really quick in my house so we would never have this problem!!
ReplyDeleteOMG is it so bad that I didn't even know you needed to do this??? Thanks for the awareness and the tips!! We love eggs!!
ReplyDeleteI always knew the test of floating in the water, but I never knew why. Now that I know, I won't have to look it up every time to remember if floating is good or bad!
ReplyDeletei def need to start checking the freshness of my eggs more often! never thought of this! thank you for the information!
ReplyDeleteWow, thank you so much your article is very useful. Now I know how to test for egg freshness.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing these tips. I recently learned the first one about a year ago.
ReplyDeleteOh this is so great! Thank you for these great tips on making sure we have fresh eggs. Those tend to stay in a fridge for a while at times.
ReplyDeletethis is definitely useful information. didn't know that's how you test an egg with friendship.
ReplyDeleteThis is awesome! I honestly never check my eggs (I know, I know, I really should) and I never really knew how either. This is super helpful - thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteOh wow these methods are so great! I never thought that if the egg white was clear it meant it was not fresh.
ReplyDeleteThis great post, I need to check the eggs, Usually I buy from Grocery store.Yes they remain in fridge for long time.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post!! I go through eggs so fast, but I will remember this! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteGreat tips! I like using fresh eggs for whatever I cook or bake. And I really hate it when I get to open a rotten one. Pfft.
ReplyDeleteConsider my mind blown. I had no idea that it would be so easy to test the freshness of an egg.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing these tricks. I think eggs are a staple in almost every home yet I wonder how many people actually check for freshness. These are easy to do and totally fool-proof!
ReplyDeleteWow! I didn't not know a clear egg white means it's old! Thank you for sharing this!!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know about the clear egg whites. I would assume that if it's clear it's fresh, but turns out it's the other way around.
ReplyDeleteThere's nothing like fresh eggs in the morning. That's why we love going to the local market whenever we get a chance.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know there was a way to test the freshness of the clear egg whites. That's pretty interesting. We like getting fresh eggs from our local store.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for writing about this. I never could remember which way it went and am always scared I'm going to get a hold of a rotten egg - that would be the worst thing ever! :)
ReplyDeleteThis is so helpful! Thank you for including pictures. Some of us need all the help we can get. 😀
ReplyDeleteWhat a super helpful set of tips! I will have to teach these to my girls too - they are just starting to learn how to cook eggs!
ReplyDeleteThis is really helpful! I knew both two ways, especially the first one I remember my grandmother teaching me how to test the eggs. But the second one is an easy way too.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't have thought to test eggs freshness these ways. But I will definitely have to do this when making things with eggs in the future.
ReplyDeleteOh, wow. I didn't know you could test egg freshness like this! Thank you so much for letting me know :)
ReplyDeleteLouise x
What wonderful ways to determine if eggs are good or not! Nothing worse than getting ready to cook/bake, only to discover that the eggs aren't good.
ReplyDeleteI love this post! Sometimes, when I bake/cook, I tend to take the rotten ones. Thank you for this one :)
ReplyDeleteExcellent tips. I often wonder if the eggs I am planning to eat are fresh.
ReplyDeleteMy hubby taught me about this but I don't test eggs always. I only do that when I remember ;-).
ReplyDeleteThose are some really useful tricks! Some eggs go bad really quickly too.
ReplyDeleteYou learn something new everyday. I try to only buy eggs when I need them so they don't go bad, but at least now I have a way testing them to make sure they are at peak freshness.
ReplyDeleteThese are such good tips! We go through about 18 weeks a week in my house, so we rarely question if they are ok, but I learned a lot from reading the post. I did not know if the yoke broke instantly it meant it was an old egg!
ReplyDeleteAwesome tips! My little boy is obsessed with eggs so I def want to make sure they are fresh
ReplyDeleteMy kids love eggs, so this is a really helpful blog. Now I know the difference between them.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a great tip! I had no idea there was a way to test besides cracking one open. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteGreat tips!! Eggs either go extremely fast in our house, or sit forever and go bad! Either I'm constantly buying eggs or throwing them out!
ReplyDeletegreat tips for knowing if an egg is fresh or not. I thing that both methods are useful observations for determining freshness, but i prefer to crack it and visually check.
ReplyDeleteI remember this technique taught us back in grade school in a science lecture and I find it so cool! Quite weird that still many doesn't know about this.
ReplyDeleteWow! Great tip you have put up over here, I definitely learned something today!To me, i would go for method 1, rather than cracking one to test.
ReplyDeleteI know the first method of checking if it’s gonna float or not. Thank you so much for sharing this trivia to us. It will really help is to check the freshness of the egg.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know you could tell an egg's freshness just by looking at it! I need to keep these methods in mind, especially when I bake, because I often keep eggs for awhile.
ReplyDeleteThis is so helpful! Especially good to know in making deviled eggs -seems the older eggs peel easier. Maybe you can do a post on peeling hard boiled eggs!
ReplyDeleteI often wonder about the freshness of eggs, especially when you buy them in the grocery store. I am going to start using Method number one.
ReplyDeleteI knew the first way of checking the egg freshness, but the second one is totally new to me! I need to keep it in mind while checking eggs in the future! :)
ReplyDeleteI use the water method to check for freshness. It's definitely worked so far. I haven't smelled a rotten egg in a really long time and I hope to keep it that way!!!!
ReplyDeleteThis is such a helpful post when you are really not sure of how fresh the eggs are - sometimes I lose track of how long they've been in the fridge for - I will keep this in mind for those occasions. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tips here. I never really gave much thought about an egg's freshness. This was an eye opener for me. Sarh
ReplyDeleteI never thought of this before. We buy eggs once or twice a week in our house, so we assume they are always fresh.
ReplyDeleteI have never thought about testing it's freshness after it's been cracked. That's an awesome idea.
ReplyDeleteI have been doing the glass of water trik for years and years and it never failed me so far! Great post!
ReplyDeleteI always appreciate good cake! This sounds amazing! I had no idea how to check for old versus new eggs, so I'll be keeping that in mind.
ReplyDeleteWow I had no idea about any of these methods! This is so helpful to know as I make eggs all of the time!
ReplyDeleteSuch an awesome tip! I have always wondered how to do this!
ReplyDeleteGreat tips! Lack of freshness of the egg can easily ruin any dessert which is absolutely unacceptable!
ReplyDeleteOooooo very useful!! My daughter is egg obsessed!!! I will have to start testing her eggs
ReplyDeleteInteresting. I didn't know you could test the freshness like this. I love eggs. Thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteI'm always so keep with the quality of the yolk of an egg I'm to prepare; looking at its color especially.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know about the floating egg test. I will have to remember that for the future. Although usually we don't have eggs long enough in the fridge to be strictly worried.
ReplyDeleteThis is some really great advice. I have always just gone by what the carton states in the stores.
ReplyDeleteI found some excellent tips here. I tend to smell my eggs first before using it, but sometimes i can be wrong when concluding if an egg is bad or not. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThis is an informative post and now I know how to check if the eggs are fresh or not. Thanks
ReplyDeleteHonestly I do not check how fresh my eggs are but after your post I need to start doing it
ReplyDeleteI'll have to share this info with my mom. She eats eggs everyday!
ReplyDeleteWow! I'll definitely have to try this out myself.
ReplyDeleteNeeded this to test some eggs, super helpful. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThis is actually so useful. We debate this in my household all the time! Thank you for clearing up what has been a 10 year argument for us!
ReplyDeleteI actually knew about the water trick! This is valuable advice. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteThis is good to know. With all my holiday baking, I would hate for a rotten egg to make someone sick.
ReplyDeleteThis is actually very useful. I never knew how to check if an egg is fresh or not, I just go by the expiration date on them.
ReplyDeleteMy husband has been eating a lot more eggs lately so I'll share this with him. Thanks so much for sharing this with us!
ReplyDeleteI knew about the first method - my kids love testing eggs :) I didn't know about the second one, so thank you.
ReplyDeleteOh wow, This is so hilarious. I never know any of these until I read this. I should start teting the eggs before I buy it.
ReplyDeleteI feel ignorant not knowing this. I normally just buy and go all the time. Mindblowing!
ReplyDeleteGreat markers on how to test an egg for freshness. I always just smell it but the water test and testing the yolk and egg whites are great tips too!
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of this tecnique, I'll start applying it to my egg recipes!
ReplyDelete