Egg Handling at Home

How to Determine Freshness

• The Best Before Date is an ideal way to determine the freshness of an egg. This indicates that the eggs are Grade A quality, as long as they have been properly handled and the date has not passed.
  
  
• Grade A eggs have a firm white, a small air cell at the wide end and a centered yolk.
  
  
• A fresh egg will sink in water while an older egg will float. As an egg ages, the size of the air cell inside increases, causing it to float.
  
  
• In a fresh egg, the yolk sits up high, and the white is thick and closely surrounds the yolk. An older egg has a flat yolk that breaks easily and a thin, watery white.
  
  
• How do you tell the difference between a raw egg and a hard-cooked egg? Spin it. A hard-cooked egg spins longer than a raw egg. The liquid centre in a raw egg prevents it from building up enough momentum to keep turning.
  
  
• A cloudy egg white is a sign of freshness, not age: the cloudiness is the result of the high carbon dioxide content when the egg is laid.