When I was a kid my mom used to always keep eggs in the refrigerator, as soon as she came home from the market the egg box would be emptied and all the eggs placed carefully into the egg holder and put quickly into the fridge. I was always curious about this and wondered if eggs really did need to be kept chilled, in the supermarket the egg holders are always on open shelves and I guessed that supermarkets would keep their eggs on open shelves too. And since they don’t chill eggs then there must be a really good reason for this.
So I did a little research and the results are quite surprising, if a little less clear than I’d like. Many people claim that by keeping them chilled that they will retain their freshness better and therefore last longer after all most things, like meat and dairy products will stay fresh longer if kept in a fridge. But eggs have an almost impermeable shell with an air-tight membrane inside and so would seem to be pretty well protected from the atmosphere.
The issue isn’t really one of keeping eggs fresh; what is more important is the fact that by cooking eggs from chilled one can cause oneself some problems.
So my own personal opinion is that I always store my eggs in my favourite chicken egg holder outside of the fridge. I’ve found no positive evidence that chilling keeps them any fresher and I’ve had salmonella before, and I don’t want to risk catching it again!
When boiling them directly from the fridge it is very difficult to avoid cracking the shell which ruins the boiled egg. This is most easily overcome by removing the eggs from the fridge and the egg holder at lest 10 minutes before boiling and then warming the water up slowly to boil it.
The second problem is one of fried, scrambled and poached eggs. We all know that in order to destroy the Salmonella bacteria you must boil the eggs from chilled or cooler temperatures. But at the moment the only way to get chilled eggs to taste any fresher is to use chilled water in order to cook them. The problem with chilled water is that it contains too much of the bacteria, it’s actually better if you cook your eggs from chilled water cold conditions.
The third problem is a rather less clear one. It’s the same as the solution to the previous two – if you must boil an egg it must be done thoroughly and its quality must be maintained by keeping it constantly warm.
I don’t think there is any excuse not to boil eggs as long as there is no valid excuse for not making perfectly fresh fried, scrambled and poached eggs. And if by some odd chance you do have an occasion when you are in a rush and have no time to produce perfectly fresh fried eggs, all you need to do is make a quick scrambled egg case in a bowl, egg and nut.
Although eggs are full of nutrition, it is also full of problems. So, if you are going to add eggs into your diet, keep in mind that there are foods whose reputation is not entirely clean that can be used, but whose taste is incomparably lovely. Poached eggs, muffins, crumpets, southern scones, breakfast cereals and cakes – all of these foods have just about the same problem. They are yummy, but they are also inedible. And this is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.
Let’s face it. Fried eggs, toast, poached eggs, burgers, steak, pork chops and many other meats have a reputation for not being particularly good for you. This is often the case, but not always. When you take a bite into a mango smoothie or a wedges of pizza, or a baked sunset Ruby Wheat mini-bagel, you’ll know immediately that they are indeed delicious. You may even not know that they contain eggs. Yet you know that, in general, they are safe to eat, and eggs are never added to fishable items, including poultry and red meat.
In a similar way, many frozen foods are often seen as being in the junk food category, and this is usually true. But, how can you be sure? First of all, you need to realize that most of the frozen items in the freezers of the grocery stores contain less preserved food and heat sensitive ingredients, which means they are less likely to become contaminated than commercially-prepared items, which is why they have water tanks. They are also picked up at a much later date, which means they could contain bacterial and other harmful organisms. Finally, most people who buy frozen products in sealed food, meaning tiny pieces of food canising products, which are minute enough to be missed by the consumer, and which have a tendency to last for years or even decades to come.
However, when you buy fresh fruits and vegetables, a process is already in place.