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Barbara's Weekly
Diary!
Storing
Eggs
You may find that eggs collected in the
morning are all used up by the evening! But
occasionally some build up and the question arises of
where to store them. I’ve read so many different
instructions about how to store your eggs that it can
get rather confusing. As soon as your hen presents you
with a fresh egg the contents start to slowly
deteriorate. It doesn’t matter what you do – you just
can’t stop this happening. This is because the egg is
warm when it is laid and the contents begin to contract
as it cools down causing an air space to form between
the outer and inner shell. As the egg gets older,
moisture and carbon dioxide are drawn out of the egg and
are replaced with air. You can tell a freshly laid egg
because the albumen or white is cloudy and slightly
jelly-like. As the egg gets older more carbon dioxide is
lost through the shell and this causes the white to
become more watery and transparent. When the egg is
broken, the yolk in a very fresh egg is fat and appears
well raised up from the white. In an older egg, the yolk
is enlarged and has a flattened appearance. It’s better
not to use eggs which are cracked or have damaged shells
as bacteria may have got inside.
So is a fridge the best
place to store eggs? Well, they’ll be fine in a
box in the fridge but using the egg holder in the door
may not be so good as they will be exposed to
condensation caused by large temperature changes every
time the door is opened.
The Food Standards Agency suggests that the best
place to store eggs is somewhere cool and dry. So,
a larder or store cupboard is fine and even a windowsill
works at this time of year when the eggs won’t be
bombarded with sunlight.
Here is a lovely savoury recipe that I make at home
all the time, it uses up lots of eggs!
Egg and Bacon
Pie
8oz shortcrust pastry
4
rashers smoked or unsmoked bacon
6-8
eggs
seasoning
Roll out the pastry and
line the base and sides of an 8” round sandwich cake tin
with ⅔ of it, reserving the rest to use as a lid. Chop
the bacon finely and fry gently until cooked. Break the
eggs into the pastry case – you can use as many as you
like. Sprinkle over the cooked bacon and seasoning. Roll
out the remaining pastry to make a lid and use to cover
the eggs and bacon. Seal the edges and cook in a
pre-heated oven for 30 minutes at 200°C or GM5 until the
pastry is golden and the filling is set.
Barbara |
