There is nothing quite like farm fresh eggs. Once you have tasted the farm fresh eggs, you will never go back to store bought. From the goldenness of the yolk, to knowing exactly where the egg came from, there is just nothing like it.
Maybe you, like us, have finally made the decision to grow or raise your own food, if so, congrats! Such a rewarding process! But have you decided how you are going to store all these beautiful eggs!? Not to worry, I will share with you what we do, why we do this, and what not to do!
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How To Store Farm Fresh Eggs
So, you got the coop figured out, all your hens are out, you have been waiting and waiting and finally you got your first egg! The excitement is real! Finally, an egg! How beautiful!
But then, out of nowhere you have a zillion eggs piled to the ceiling and you have no idea what you are going to do with them. You have been eating eggs non stop, scrambled, hard boiled, egg salad, baked everything imaginable that requires multiple eggs, have sold them, given them away, even had to throw some away, and still they just keep coming.
Alright, so maybe it’s not that bad.
But you may or may not at some point end up a zillion eggs and not sure what to do with them, so I wanted to share what we do with ours.
But first…
To Wash Or Not Wash Fresh Eggs
When we got our first eggs, I was over the moon excited! Everyday walking out to the coop there was a little surprise waiting for me, then we had so many we couldn’t keep up. Well, I had read that you could just store eggs on the counter and they were good for months. Perfect. These eggs will last, no problem.
To my surprise, this was not the case. Little tip: Always read the entire article.
Bloom.
Farm fresh eggs have a protective layer on them called the “bloom”. The bloom is a protective coating that protects the fertilized egg from any bacteria getting through the shell and infecting the chick inside.
Well, when you wash the egg to get any dirt or poop off, you are also washing off the bloom that protects the inner egg. When you wash off that bloom, the egg is susceptible to bacteria and the egg can no longer just sit on the counter, it must go into the fridge to be stored.
Washed
A quick google search will give you a bit of a headache because there are so many differing opinions. So I will just share my suggestion from my own experience:
If you decide to wash your fresh eggs, put the eggs in a strainer to rinse with warm water. Once the eggs are dried put them right in the fridge to be stored. They are then good for about a month or so.
I made the mistake of washing my eggs and leaving them out on the counter and they went bad, which would have been no big deal. However, those eggs were also shared with my mother in law and they had the unpleasant pleasure of trying to hard boil bad eggs.
So, I suggest washing and sticking them straight in the fridge.
Amazon has great reusable egg cartons that can be washed and reused or good ole cardboard egg cartons for cheap as well!
Unwashed
Personally, unless our eggs are super dirty from the run being too muddy or the girls use the laying boxes for a restroom *insert eye roll* we keep our eggs unwashed.
Again, the reason fresh eggs are able to sit out is because the bloom is intact and keeping the egg free from bacteria.
Leaving the eggs out on the counter is usually safe for up to two months. We haven’t had any issues leaving our unwashed eggs out on the counter. But you do want to be sure that you have no broken ones sitting out or your kitchen will smell terrible!
We like to use a basket for our eggs because it makes the counters look a bit prettier. However, one time, I’m assuming the kids put the eggs in the basket and an egg broke. Unfortunately we never caught that it broke and it was on the bottom of the basket. After a week or two of trying to figure out why our kitchen was smell and cleaning everything, we realized an egg had broke.
If you plan to leave yours on the counter, egg cartons, baskets, grid boxes with drawers, or even these cute spiral egg dispensers works great!
Really you just want to make sure you pay attention to how long the eggs have been out before you use them.
Testing Freshness
If you are really unsure as to how fresh your eggs are, a great test is to stick your eggs in a bowl of water. The eggs will float if they have gone bad. When they sink to the bottom and lay flat, they are still fresh. And if the eggs sink to the bottom but are in an upright position, they need to be used up sooner rather than later.
Now that you know how to store your fresh eggs and whether to wash them or not, I hope you enjoy raising your flock and eating fresh eggs daily! Who knows, maybe you can even start a business selling all those beautiful eggs! Either way, I hope you love every moment of growing and raising your own food!
Until next time,
