Thai Fresh Eggs

[PeteC]

The shops relocating along the railway road thread made me think of this.

I come from the land of white shell refrigerated eggs so really know nothing about purchasing and assessing Thai fresh eggs. I've always left it to someone else to stock up.

Can you get a straight answer from these Thai egg wholesalers as to the age of the eggs, and how old can they get before safety becomes a concern?

Do they rotate the old from the back to front in their huge stacks, therefore making it better if you pick from the back of the stacks?

Do any of them mark their eggs as organic, free range etc., or is that simply not an issue or a concern here?

From time to time we find it necessary to buy a package of CP eggs from the CP store or 7-11, and without exception the yolks in those eggs are lighter and more yellow than the market eggs which always have a deep orange coloured yolk. To me that means CP is doing something genetically with their chickens....IMO? Pete

[HHTel]

Thailand is the largest producer of eggs in SE Asia. CP is the biggest company with their own poultry farms across the region. I would guess that their eggs come from battery farms whereas the ones sold in the markets are more likely to be free-range. Not sure how you tell the age of the eggs you buy in the markets but the turnover is high so I don't imagine they lie around too long before being sold.

CP have had some bad press. Only last year, a batch of eggs had almost fully developed embryos in them. Discovered by customers.

Thai eggs, incidentally, do not need refrigeration as they don't go through the same cleaning systems as some countries, the US being one. They retain the natural protection which is otherwise 'washed' off.

[PeteC]

There must be a shelf life though when you get them home. When I start to get nervous about them sitting out on the kitchen counter for too long (usually more than a week) I put them in the fridge. I know, that destroys the natural protection but makes me feel better that older eggs are now chilled and hopefully will stay safe to eat a bit longer. Pete

EDIT: We wash Thai fresh eggs to get all the poop off. You really have to as you can't allow the bacteria from that stuff to enter the egg when you crack and use it. I have no idea if warm water washing in the sink destroys the natural protection or not?

[Big Boy]

As I said on the other thread, we generally use the wholesaler on Soi 68. In over 6 years, we've only had 2 rotten eggs. Various sizes, especially the double yolkers and size 0 sell out very quickly, so I don't see how they have chance to go old.

I've never tried one, but my wife considers the eggs with almost fully developed embryos as a delicacy - not sure where she gets them.

[PeteC]

I've read several times in the past that eggs are the #1 source of protein for Thai people. Pete

[HHTel]

Just having a quick browse and I spotted this:

Eggs will last longer in the fridge, provided you don't put them in the door. The cold does make them last, but constant changes in temperature can make them go off quicker. They should be kept nearer the back of the fridge, where the temperature is more constant.

Of course the majority of fridges have the egg holders in the door!

It was also mentioned that once you refrigerate eggs, then they must stay refrigerated and not be left out of the fridge for more than 2 hours as the moisture formed on the egg can develop bacteria.

[MDMK]

PeteC, do you know how to test your eggs for freshness by placing them in a bowl of water?

[MDMK]

Have a carton of eggs with an expiration date that's already passed? Wait! Don't toss them just yet. Even though the use-by date on the side of the egg carton says they've expired, sometimes eggs stay fresh past that date.

Do you know the tried-and-true method to test whether your eggs are still OK to use?

How to Test the Freshness of Eggs

Place the egg in a bowl of water.

If the egg lays on its side at the bottom, it is still quite fresh.

If the egg stands upright on the bottom, it is still fine to eat, but should be eaten very soon, or hard-boiled.

If the egg floats to the top, it's past its prime, and not good for eating.

Why this method is accurate
Eggshells are very porous. Over time air passes through the shell into the egg, and its shelf life diminishes as more air enters the shell. Also, the more air that enters the shell, the more buoyant the egg becomes.

https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-test-e ... tchn-46368

this definitely works, I do it all the time. And like they say, I have had eggs a week over their "best before" date and 2-3 weeks after their "sell by" date and as long as they pass the bowl of water test, they've been fine to eat.

[PeteC]

That is really brilliant. I had never heard about any test before, but will now use it when questions arise. Thanks! Pete

Edit: I wonder what would happen if I took a bowl of water to the egg market?

[MDMK]

That is really brilliant. I had never heard about any test before, but will now use it when questions arise. Thanks! Pete

we'll call it quits then for the storage of food waste in the freezer tip. That tip has been unmissable these past 6 weeks with our heatwave. Our food waste only gets collected once a fortnight. A few of the neigbours have had maggots in their wheely bins. Not me. Mine was nicely frozen thank you. And I never get those tiny fruit flies thingies in my kitchen now either as it all goes in the freezer. No bluebottles buzzing around my wheelybin.

there's another way to test eggs that my chef friend uses. But you'd be better googling it as I just don't see it. You crack an egg open and you can see by how defined the "thin white" and the "thick white" layers are how fresh it. But like I say, too complicated for me.

[Nereus]

That is really brilliant. I had never heard about any test before, but will now use it when questions arise. Thanks! Pete
Edit: I wonder what would happen if I took a bowl of water to the egg market?

Old age is a bitch! That has been posted on here previously, Pete.

I just use a coffee cup for the water test. One of the egg supplers, maybe CP, have a small refrigerator in the supermarkets, with what they call organic eggs. Never found them to be much better than ones just on a shelf. They will keep a couple of weeks in a fridge if resonably fresh. As for the door thing, they should be kept stored in the "egg box" that you buy them in. And that is another thing that plastic has taken over. Eggs ALWAYS used to come from the shop in a cardboard like box, but the ones that I buy are now in a plastic box. Not a problem if you buy in bulk, but I just buy 6 at a time, and big size 2 at that.

[HHTel]

That freshness test was always done by my mother when I was a nipper. Testing whether an egg is hard boiled or not is also very simple. Spin it on a hard surface. If it spins then it's hard boiled, if it stops after 1 spin then it's uncooked!

[hin]

Put an egg in water - the fresher it is the taster it will sink, rotten eggs will float. The older an egg is the more it will spread out when you crack it into the pan. A fresh egg has heavier consistency and will spread out very little when cracked into the pan. Eggs are embryos, after being refrigerated they are dead so need to stay refrigerated.

Eggs will keep a lot longer if simply inverting them every day so the membrane under the shell will not dry out at the side that is up. A hen does this to eggs she is setting on so they will hatch instead of rot. Eggs age logarithmically faster as they dry out, a reason to not wash off the naturally protective coating.

When cruising I have kept eggs as much as 6 months without refrigeration. The secret is to try to get them right at the farm knowing they are not more than one or 2 days old and not been washed or refrigerated. They need to be sealed by dipping in melted paraffin or coating them with grease. Some people seal them by dipping for an instant in boiling water but I did not like that method because the cooked white part that seals them does smell and taste bad after they age a while and that taste migrates into the good part when the egg is cracked open.

Eggs with an almost fully formed chick inside are called ‘baluts’ in the Philippines and are a popular delicacy there. I could not get past a mental block so did not taste them, Have been told they are high cholesterol.

The egg compartment in our fridge door has a plastic door over it so should have stable temperature - a feature I never realized the reason for until reading here

[Nereus]

When cruising I have kept eggs as much as 6 months without refrigeration. The secret is to try to get them right at the farm knowing they are not more than one or 2 days old and not been washed or refrigerated. They need to be sealed by dipping in melted paraffin or coating them with grease.

I grew upon a farm in Australia and my late Mother used to "preserve" eggs with a shop bought sealer not unlike vaseline if I recall correctly. However, she only used them for cooking in cakes etc.

But my most vivid memory is having to clean out the "chook pen" as part of my weekend chores. Stinking job! We also used to feed them "shell grit" along with wheat and "mash". They also were allowd to run free for a few hours everyday.

The yoke of eggs will be affected by what the bird eats. On one property the hens used to raid the working dogs food pellets, and the oily taste made them inedible. The shell strength is also affected by what they eat.

[MDMK]

Testing whether an egg is hard boiled or not is also very simple. Spin it on a hard surface. If it spins then it's hard boiled, if it stops after 1 spin then it's uncooked!

egg salad sarney for lunch it is.... will report back on results. Last weeks egg salad was awful as the yolks were too runny