Shorts Fresh Eggs vs Stale Eggs: Like other protein foods such as meat, fish and poultry, eggs can be contaminated with bacteria which, if allowed to grow, can cause food poisoning. This applies not only to dirty or cracked eggs but also to clean eggs.
We often eat eggs raw or only lightly cooked in mayonnaises, caesar salad dressings, mousses, tiramisu, soufflés and more. Such eggs still in the shell, should be treated very carefully (as though they were contaminated) and people with lowered immune systems should avoid them. Let us go through the article to know what are fresh eggs and stale eggs and how to classify them.
4 Ways to Distinguish Fresh Eggs and Stale Eggs
The following are the 4 ways you can use to distinguish between Fresh Eggs and Stale Eggs:
The Floating Test
Grab a bowl of cold water and eggs.
Place the eggs gently in the bowl one by one.
If the eggs sink and lay flat on their sides on the bottom, they are fresh.
If the eggs don’t sink completely and stick to one of the sides of the bowl, they aren’t very fresh, but consumable.
If the eggs float on the surface, they have gone bad, and should not be consumed at any cost.
Sloshing Test
Hold an egg up to your ear and shake it.
If you hear a sloshing sound inside the eggs, the eggs have (probably) gone bad.
If you hear nothing, the eggs are fresh and fine to consume.
For Cracked Eggs
The Plate Test
Crack the egg onto a plate or any other flat surface.
If the egg is fresh, the yolk should be bright yellow or orange and the white part shouldn’t spread much.
If the egg is old, the yolk tends to be flat and the white part will be more watery.
However, that may not mean that the eggs have gone bad, they are just old.
Follow it up with the sniffing test.
Fresh eggs don’t have much of a smell.
A rotten egg regardless of whether it is cooked or not will have a distinct foul smell.
The Yolk and Egg White Test
You can also tell if the egg has gone bad by examining its yolk.
If the yolk is flat and breaks easily, the egg is probably old.
If the yolk moves around easily, this means the egg has weakened with time.
The yolk of a fresh egg is usually more bright and yellow in colour, but that is not a reliable test.
Black or green spots inside the egg indicate that it has been contaminated by fungus and must not be consumed
Why Do Stale Eggs Float?
When an egg starts to “Stale” decomposition occurs. Decomposition gives off-gases. As the egg starts to decompose, more of the egg’s mass is converted to gases. Gas bubbles form inside the egg so an older egg floats on its end. However, eggs are porous, hence, some of the gas escapes through the eggshell and lose it to the atmosphere. When enough gas is lost, the density of the egg is less than that of water and the egg floats.
Why Do Fresh Eggs Sink?
Fresh eggs sink because the egg yolk, egg white, and gases have enough mass that the density of the egg is greater than the density of water. Density is the mass per unit of volume. Hence, a fresh egg is heavier than water.
We hope the above article helped you. If you have any doubts or queries drop them in the comment section below and we will revert with answers. Embibe wishes you good luck and all the best.