When do eggs go off ?

[Barakka]

This may be a daft question, but one that i'm not 100% on...

Obviously eggs are OK to use until the BBDate printed onto the shell, but what about when you've used them to make something.

For example, each weekend we make a batch of seed bars, one ingredient of which is an egg, now once cooked the bars will then keep for 7 days and we eat them in that time frame. If we have an egg that only has say two days left on the date, can it be used to make the seed bars and still be safe for seven days as it's been cooked, or is it still the date on the egg ?

[tiggerai]

If it's cooked thoroughly it should be fine.

Gotta remember that a best before date is exactly that, best before. Doesn't mean something automagically goes off on that date!

Eggs are usually good for at least another week after their BBD, especially if you're using them to be cooked. If you're making something like chocolate mousse or something that requires raw eggs, then go for new fresh ones.

Added to which, you quite easily know when an egg has gone off! *pong*

[IBM]

5 , 4 , 3 , 2 , 1........now!

[kalniel]

As tiggerai says, the egg will let you know when it's off! If they're kept in the fridge they often last months after the best before date. Then it's just a question of taste and so on - the longer an egg is in the fridge the more likely it will have absorbed any fridge pongs as the shells are porous.

[chicken]

Fill a large glass with water, drop the egg in whole and uncracked, if it floats it is off, don't open it and throw it away. If it sinks you should be fine.

[Funkstar]

Good tip that

[jimbouk]

I do the spinning trick:

Spin the egg on a flat surface. Stop it with a finger on top then quickly release it. If it starts spinning again then the inside should still be good (the yolk will keep spinning when the egg stops).

Dunno how reliable it is but it's good fun...

[kalniel]

And your egg comes ready scrambled that way too

[tom18230]

Fill a large glass with water, drop the egg in whole and uncracked, if it floats it is off, don't open it and throw it away. If it sinks you should be fine.

I'm interested, do you know the scientific reason for that lol?

[HSK]

a few days past the date is fine. if in doubt crack them in separate bowls/glasses etc and see if the yolk stays intact and round, and take a sniff. if it smells clean and it's intact it's ok, if it dont smell so great and the yolk just breaks and spreads by itself totally, upon breaking the shell, i'd bin it.

[HSK]

opps i just read ur question properly. if u cook it before the date it's fine to eat after.

[DDY]

I'm interested, do you know the scientific reason for that lol?

It's because egg shells are slightly porous i.e. lets water and air in/out. As the egg ages the inside dries a bit, water goes out and air comes in, more air = more buoyancy.

The smelling technique to know if an egg is good to eat works the best, it's immediately obvious when it's cracked open

[Zak33]

another way too tel is

Crack the egg onto a plate, before you use it.

The more prominent the yolk stands up (like a hill) from the clear whites (albumen) the fresher it is. Old eggs are really flat....new egg yolk's are bold an upright.....

As the egg ages, the albumen looses the ability tohold the yolk firm.