Egg nutrition has been alternately vilified and exemplified over the years as eggs have fallen in and out of favor with the so-called "experts." First they were bad for us because of their high cholesterol count and now they are wonderful for us to eat. They finally got it right on that score.
Eggs are incredibly edible, being a wonderful source of high quality protein and fat in an easily transported package. You can hard boil them and take them with you on airplanes to eat instead of being forced to eat airport or hotel food.
Important Raw Egg Guidelines
To eat eggs raw, there are some guidelines that you need to follow. If you buy them organic and free-range, from a local farmer, you will be amazed at how good they are. I am fortunate to have found just such a place – a family in which their two oldest boys raise the chickens as their business and sell the chicken eggs.
The boys are home schooled so the chickens get to run around in the yard all day and eat what chickens are supposed to eat – bugs! It might come as a surprise to many of you, but chickens are not vegetarians and they receive valuable sources of proteins from the insects they eat. Egg nutrition is greatly enhanced by this practice.
As such, they also provide organic pest control in the garden. Their manure, since it is in small quantities, adds organic matter to the soil and thus enriches the garden as well.
Free Range Eggs
The egg nutrition from these happy chickens is very different from store-bought ones too. First off, their shells are very much harder than conventional ones and you almost have to beat them against something to get them to break.
Secondly, once inside, the yolks are a really bright orange-yellow instead of the pale yellow ones you get from the store. They are usually much bigger too, sometimes even having double yolks.The other neat things is that you do not have to refrigerate them if you do not clean them until you are ready to use them. Egg nutrition is enhanced by doing so.
I get them straight from the hen’s nests (or sometimes the ground) and store them on my kitchen counter in this cute little wire container. They have mud and hay stuck on them quite often.
According to Julie, my egg lady and the mother of the two egg entrepreneurs, there is a membrane on the egg that stays intact until you wash it. If the eggs have been washed, they need to be refrigerated, and once refrigerated, they need to continue to be refrigerated until used, for proper egg nutrition.
So I don’t clean mine until right before using them and they keep at room temperature for up to four weeks. When you think about it, most of the world does not refrigerate their eggs and they do just fine.
The Safety of Raw Eggs
Because of the small risk of salmonella infection, though, you do have to take some precautions before using the eggs and test them to make sure they are OK to use. Dr. Mercola, in this article on eggs estimated that the risk of contracting an infection from eggs is one in 30,000. That is for store bought eggs, so the risk from free-range chicken eggs is even smaller.
Always practice good hygiene and wash your hands thoroughly after handling free-range eggs. Julie’s next door neighbor did contract salmonella because she went out and gathered her own eggs from her own chickens and then sat down to eat her lunch without washing her hands.
One thing that you need to be aware of if you buy organic eggs from the supermarket is how they are treated before being packaged. This article from Dr. Mercola's site tells you what they do to eggs and it varies from state to state because of local regulations. It definitely affects your egg nutrition.
The rules state that eggs should be processed within 30 days of lay and higher quality ones are within seven days of lay. That processing consists of cleaning them in chlorine or lye and then coating them in mineral oil, or in some cases, vegetable oil which is a better alternative. I don't know about you, but the thought of that sickens me.
Here is a quote from the article: "An eggshell contains approximately 7,500 pores or openings. The outer surface is covered with a waxy cuticle (called the bloom when on a chicken egg), sealing the egg and helping prevent bacteria from entering.
Gases are transferred and moisture is lost through these pores. When moisture is lost, carbon dioxide is also lost, speeding up the breakdown of the egg.[i] Loss of carbon dioxide causes the egg's pH to increase, which results in thinning of the albumen.
Why is this important? Because commercial processing regularly destroys this protective cuticle." I'll let you read the rest of the article for all the details, but this gives you an overview.
Once you have washed the egg you plan to use in your smoothie or for other reasons, then you need to test it to see if the egg nutrition is good. This is done very simply.
How To Test Eggs For Safety
Take a glass or jar and put cold water in it (not lukewarm) and add a bit of salt. Don’t waste your good Celtic sea salt on this – just buy and use a cheap kind. Then take the egg to be tested and drop it (carefully!) in it. You can use tongs to do this if you prefer.
If tiny bubbles come out of it in a stream, the outer shell has been compromised and it should be discarded. That has only happened to me once in two years and that was with store-bought eggs.
If it is fresh, it will sink directly to the bottom and lie on its side. If it bobs a little bit before lying on the bottom, it is about one week old. If it stands up on the bottom, pointed end down and broad end up, it is probably about three weeks old and still has perfectly good egg nutrition.
If it floats half way up, use it immediately, as it will not be good for long. However, if it floats on top of the water, throw it away and don’t even think about eating it. This works because eggs lose both moisture and carbon dioxide as they age and that makes them more buoyant.If the egg breaks the surface of the water at all, don't take any chances - just throw it out. Getting sick is not worth the few pennies it costs to buy another egg, even organic ones. Notice how the egg below totally floats on the surface of the water.
Second Test For Safety
There is a second test that you want to do to test your egg nutrition and that is to ALWAYS break them into a separate dish or ramekin first before adding them to other ingredients. An egg could do fine on the floating test and bubble test and still be bad inside.
This happened to me once with a very big egg that I figured was a double yolk. Sure enough, it was, and when I cracked it open, one yolk was fine and the other was black as the ace of spades. If that’s the last egg in a recipe that you were going to cook, you would have to throw the whole thing out and start over.
Of course, it goes without saying that if you open an egg and it is discolored or smells bad, discard it immediately. You’ll know at once. They don’t call it the “rotten egg smell” for nothing!
So even though it seems to be more of a bother, take the time to break the eggs into a separate dish first. You’ll be happy you did. Now you can enjoy one of nature’s perfect foods any time you want.
Recycling Egg Shells
There is one other thing I want to mention here. I recycle or compost everything that I can and the eggshells go in to my back door composter. Because I am blessed to live across the valley from Amicalola Falls, one of Georgia’s most beautiful state parks, we do have a problem with bears.
So I have to wash all of my eggshells before they go into the composter in order to keep bears away from them. It’s best to do that anyway to keep raccoons and other critters from causing trouble.
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