Eggs - why N. America is wrong refrigerating them

[zeehag]

rebel heart you havent been to the small towns in out of the way places yet.
small towns do not fully rely on the huge conglomerate coopertivas. some independents still survive. chickens run around and some stay in hen houses and eggs taste wonderful as they are fresh. not too many gringos go to these places. they are wonderful.

[Andy73]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

I think I'll just continue to put the eggs in the boat frig.

If the day ever comes that there isn't enough room in the frig that is the day I should consider cutting down on my beer drinking to make more room. But .................... then again maybe that is the day I give up eggs!

You don't need to chill scotch...

[cheoah]

I have a large mobile hen house, it hold several hundred birds. They follow one of the beef herds, and scratch up the manure and keep the fly populations down. Flies suck blood, btw, not just tickle.

The yolks are a bright orange, brighter than anything you've ever seen. I do not wash mine, just hit the high spots with some sandpaper, and would not take up space in my ice box with eggs.

Our original one, the Coop DeVille, was smaller. Our current mobile house, El Pollo Loco, is pretty sweet.

Boiled eggs with neon orange yolks is a must on all my passages.

[Suijin]

I got salmonella poisoning once. In France. From eating eggs from a charcuterie. Thought I was going to f'ing die, and they almost removed my appendix before they diagnosed what I had. I do *not* want to go through that again, thank you very much.

I'll keep my eggs refrigerated if you don't mind, except when I'm on a long passage and don't have room for them in the box. Then they sit out, get turned every two days, but get eaten in two weeks.

All the gobbledy gook about washing and immunization and what not is all fine and well, but at the end of the day, if you can toss them into the fridge at a slight loss of taste and one less thing to worry about, I'm all for it.

[mausgras]

Originally Posted by John A

Zee,
Free range chickens mostly lay fertilized eggs and if you keep them at the temps of the tropics, when you open the shell you'll find an unborn chick at some stage of development.
For you city folk a chickens egg is the byproduct of a menstruatal cycle.

So here we have a group of people stressing out about a safe life passage making at sea, but willing to risk Salmonella. Strange

Sorry to correct you John but chicken eggs are NOT the byproduct of a menstruatal (sic) cycle. Only eutherian mammals have a uterus which breaks down periodically to produce menstrual wastes. Birds have a direct connection via an oviduct to a single urogenital opening called the cloaca. Thats why chicken eggs can be coated in faeces.

Having said that I am surprised no one has mentioned 1000 year eggs (sometimes call 100 year, 100 day or century eggs). These are eggs preserved by coating the egg in an alkaline mixture of clay and quicklime, salt and rice hulls for several weeks or months. This causes the yolk to turn dark green or black with a creamy consistency and an odour of sulphur and ammonia. The albumen becomes dark brown and jelly like.

These eggs are considered a delicacy in many asian cuisines.

Like me most of the readers of this forum have probably been taught that fertilised eggs are "off" and should be thrown away. In fact they are quite edible and again in Laos and many other countries they are considered a treat on special occasions. "Duck-in-egg" (or chicken) can be at any stage of development from a tiny embryo to a fully formed chick feathers and all.

Yes, I have eaten them, just to say I have done it, and it did taste quite OK but cultural habits are hard to break and I generally turn them down when offered one.

[hpeer]

Last year I tried locally buy some unwashed eggs from a farmers market. The guy did it, but I had to put in an advance order, and kiss his hem.

But they kept just fine.

[Robin3]

Originally Posted by Suijin

I got salmonella poisoning once. In France. From eating eggs from a charcuterie. Thought I was going to f'ing die, and they almost removed my appendix before they diagnosed what I had. I do *not* want to go through that again, thank you very much.

I'll keep my eggs refrigerated if you don't mind, except when I'm on a long passage and don't have room for them in the box. Then they sit out, get turned every two days, but get eaten in two weeks.

All the gobbledy gook about washing and immunization and what not is all fine and well, but at the end of the day, if you can toss them into the fridge at a slight loss of taste and one less thing to worry about, I'm all for it.

Did you eat the eggs raw as in a home made Mayo, Bernaise or hollandaisesauce or did you cook them fully? I think had they or you refrigerated them for later use the result would have been just the same because simple refrigeration does not kill salmonella bacteria whilst cooking them properly does

[goboatingnow]

Refrigerated eggs are an abomination. , but then I get eggs every 3-4 days and eat them all in that time. In fact in the US it's not the refrigeration that's really the issue , it's the egg washing that then forces refrigeration.


Dave

[sailing_jack]

I raised a small flock of chickens for years. Rarely washed then and never refrigerated them.sold then directly as 'farm gate' sales. On tidbit I can offer, if you are not sure if the egg is off, put it in a bowl of water. If it sinks it is still good. Toss the ones that float. The ones that stand on end, cook now.

[DeepFrz]

All the gobbledy gook about washing and immunization and what not is all fine and well, but at the end of the day, if you can toss them into the fridge at a slight loss of taste and one less thing to worry about, I'm all for it.

Much much more than a slight loss of taste. We North Americans have mostly forgotten what real food tastes like.

[CatInHand]

Y'all are funny. My girls free range in my back yard, I don't refrigerate my eggs, and I only wash them if they're coated in poop.

Fertilized eggs are fine. You probably wouldn't even know the difference unless you know what to look for.

My egg customers get unwashed eggs. No one has died yet.

[bobconnie]

We get all our eggs drom a chicken breeder, he raises fighting chickens. These chickens are treated as well or better then in a egg ranch!! they recieve any and all needed medications they need to be healthy!! But the eggs are still farm fresh and dirty and they taste so much better then store chilled eggs do !! At least I know theres no steroids in my eggs!! Have any of yall tasted what places like costco and sams clubs sell for chicken meat ?? Talk about what they must feed theses chickens!! to make em taste that foul !(pun intended) I will stick with my local eggs and backyard raised chicken meat !!

[GordMay]

The USFDA estimates say it would cost about 14 cents a bird to inoculate (vaccinate against salmonella).
The average hen produces about 260 eggs over the course of her lifetime.