Fresh Chicken Eggs (hardboiled) Can't Peel!

[Laneco]

Of all the questions I've asked on this site, this particular one is THE most off-topic - LOL!

I've hard-boiled and peeled eggs for decades. Piece of cake. I roll the egg on hard surface to crack it uniformly, run it under water and use a spoon to slide the shells off. This has been an effective system on all the store bought eggs.

Now I have my own chickens who are spoiled rotten and fed a very healthy mostly vegetarian diet. The eggs I'm boiling and peeling now are less than 24 hours old. REAL fresh!

The shells stick to the outer portion of the white horrendously. I'm probably losing 1/4 of the egg-white to stuck-on-the-shell waste.

What the heck am I doing wrong?

angela

[masraum]

Subscribed. I have the same problem with the eggs that we get from Whole foods.

[LeeH]

Fresher=harder to peel.

Peeling Fresh Eggs

[Super_Dave_D]

Why are peeling fresh eggs shells so difficult?

With eggs that are just a day or two old, the membrane beneath the shell sticks tightly to the shell making peeling the egg almost impossible. After a few days in the refrigerator the egg becomes easier to peel. Why is this? In fresh eggs the albumen sticks to the inner shell membrane more strongly than it sticks to itself because of the more acidic environment of the egg. The white of a freshly laid egg has a pH between 7.6 and 7.9 and an opalescent (cloudy) appearance due to the presence of carbon dioxide. After the protective coat is washed off the egg shell the egg becomes porous and begins to absorb air and loose some carbon dioxide contained in the albumen. This reduces the acidity of the egg which causes (after several days in the refrigerator) the pH to increase to around 9.2. At higher pH the inner membrane does not stick as much to the albumen so the shell peels off easier. In addition, as the egg gets older it will shrink and the air space between the egg shell and the membrane will get larger.

Research shows that the reduced acidity helps with peeling. The tradeoff, however, is that in older eggs the yolk tends to move further from being centered. This happens because the white gets thinner and is less able to hold the yolk in place. The best compromise is to use eggs that have been stored on their sides in the refrigerator for 7 to 10 days.

Tips on Peeling Boiled Eggs :

What is the best way to peel a boiled egg so the egg white does not stick to the shell? Here are several responses, although all bets are off for eggs only a couple days old.

>>> After boiling, pour off the hot water, shake pan back and forth to crack the shells. Cover eggs in cold water and let set for a couple of minutes. Leave water and eggs in pan and peel, using water to rinse away excess shells.

>>>Or, take the egg from boiling water and immediately run cold water on it. Peel the egg under cold running water starting with rounded top where the air pouch is.

[TechnoViking]

There are lots of recipes on line for hard boiled eggs. Most I've seen say to start with putting the eggs in COLD water and letting them come to a boil. Some say to put salt in the water.

I think those things help with the peeling.

[TechnoViking]

Originally Posted by Super_Dave_D

>>>Or, take the egg from boiling water and immediately run cold water on it. Peel the egg under cold running water starting with rounded top where the air pouch is.

Oh yea, forgot that one.

[Super_Dave_D]

The amazing part is that we all now know how to peel 'Fresh' hard boiled eggs and it only took 5 mintes!!!

[Laneco]

Oh thanks you guys!!! Yes, it is definately cool that you all had that answer so quickly (plenty of diversity in this group).

It does say something about my social group that I asked this question on a car-guy site though.

Makes me wonder exactly how old the store bought eggs are when I got them home. Blech.

angela

[LeeH]

Since we're on the topic... what's your favorite way to cook hardboiled eggs?

We put them in cold water on the stove and bring them to a boil. Once boiling remove from heat and cover. After 15 minutes the hot water is poured out and they're covered in cold water along with a generous amount of ice to stop the cooking process.

[javadog]

Cover with cold water, bring to a boil, boil for one minute, kill the heat and let sit for 9 more minutes. Drain, crack in the pan, cool with cold water, peel.

This yields a yolk that is not cooked to death. It actually tastes better, once you get used to the notion.

JR

[Hugh R]

Great info. As others have said, collectively PPOT can provide answers to just about any subject.

[M.D. Holloway]

yup, fresh eggs are bad peelers - the older the egg the thicker the shell.

[GH85Carrera]

So I guess fresh eggs are not that a-peeling after all

[teenerted1]

hard boiled
put in cold water...bring to boil...boil three minutes (or whatever the ol' eggtimer says remember the little thing mom used to have on the stove?)...take to sink and run cold water into pan till cool. put in fridge to eat later
soft boiled
i think mom might have skipped the cold water at the end since they were usually still hot when eaten. havent eaten soft boiled in decades. so i could be wrong there.

[tcar]

The cold water immediately after boiling also helps keep the yolks from getting the 'bluish' tinge around the edge that you sometimes see.

Keeps the yolk uniformly yellow.

[gr8fl4porsche]

Originally Posted by javadog

Cover with cold water, bring to a boil, boil for one minute, kill the heat and let sit for 9 more minutes. Drain, crack in the pan, cool with cold water, peel.

This yields a yolk that is not cooked to death. It actually tastes better, once you get used to the notion.

JR

This is how my wife does it as well.

All I do is patiently wait with 2 slices of bread until her famous egg salad is ready.

[fireant911]

Angela,
We went through this same issue just two weeks ago... try this

How to Blow the Shell off a Hard Boiled Egg: 8 steps (with video) - wikiHow

[Buckterrier]

Didn't read all the replies but you need to let them 'age' to make hard boiled eggs. What kind of chickens do you have? Here is one of mine, Foggy...

[Laneco]

Oh she's beautiful!

I have 8 Black Jersey Giants
3 Buff Orpingtons
1 Blue-Lace Wyanadotte
4 Light Brahmas.

The Giants and the Brahmas are my favorites. Real mellow chickens!

Also, the advice for peeling was perfect. We switched over to using eggs that were 4 or 5 days old, cold water, bring to boil, rolling boil 3 minutes, drain, crack, add cold water. They peel perfectly!

thanks!

angela

[Chocaholic]

Seems we've nailed the "hard-boiled" recipe. What's the trick for doing soft-boiled eggs correctly (soft yolk, white, uh...whites)? For me, it's hit and miss....a game of luck.