After a long day at the workplace, you've just returned home. You have only a carton of eggs in your fridge, which you want to quickly prepare into a meal because you are hungry and exhausted. Though, when did you purchase them? They are past their expiration date, and you can't remember. Evidently, you don't want to squander them because eggs are now expensive. How can eggs be judged to be spoiled?
The quick response: Take a smell after cracking one open. The best technique to determine whether an egg is ruined is to smell it. Throw it away if it has a sulphurous odour. However, let's go a little further. First, it's crucial to comprehend the distinctions between an old egg, a rotten egg, and an egg contaminated with salmonella.
Although eating an old egg isn't always dangerous, it might not taste as wonderful as a new egg. An egg that has been tainted by common bacteria is rotting, and it will smell sulphurous and nasty. Most of the time, eating a rotten egg will only result in minor digestive problems, sometimes accompanied by a few days of cramping.
However, a raw egg contaminated with the pathogenic bacteria Salmonella can result in serious disease, especially in people with impaired immune systems. Unfortunately, salmonella has no taste, odour, or visual clues when it is present. The good news is that cooking can get rid of salmonella, which is rare in raw eggs.
Here's how you can spot bad eggs at home:
Float Test:
The float test is one of the quickest and most reliable ways to determine if you have fresh or rotten eggs. All you need is your questionable egg and a glass or bowl of cold water. As you can see, fresh eggs float, whereas rotting eggs sink. In other words, you're checking to see if your egg is a sinker or a floater.
A tiny air pocket inside the shell of bad eggs causes them to float. The air bubble inside an egg enlarges with age. Due to moisture evaporating through the eggshell and being replaced by air, this air pocket expands. The egg begins to float as the moisture content drops.
Smell Test:
It's generally best to throw away the egg if you crack open one and instantly detect a strong odour. Bacteria have the possibility of entering through cracked eggs' shells during handling and shipping, which can result in some very revolting odours developing inside the egg. Fresh eggs, on the other hand, typically have little to no smell at all.
Egg White Consistency:
A small amount of air gradually leaks through the egg shells as eggs age in your refrigerator, resulting in the air pocket you may have seen when you peeled a hard-boiled egg. The egg white may become watery as a result of this. Although runny eggs aren't always dangerous to eat, it's usually preferable to get a new carton if you're unsure of the expiration date and observe that the egg whites are especially loose.
Shake It:
Holding an egg up to your ear and shaking it is another technique; however, it's not as effective as the float trick. It's spoiled if you hear liquid swishing around within. However, silence indicates positive news. A wet, swirling yolk is typically the cause of the sound.