Place Eggs in a Bowl of Water to See If They Go Bad
Eggs are one of those versatile foods that are great to keep in the fridge for a last minute meal, but part of being a fridge staple is that sometimes we can forget about the box we bought a few weeks ago. Nobody likes a rotten egg, so how do you know if you can eat it? Here’s a simple trick to let you know if you can continue with your omelet or if you should look for something else in the kitchen.
Check the various dates on the packaging.
First things first: check the expiration date on the egg carton. This will at least give you a general idea of when you bought the eggs (if you can’t remember) and when they are predicted to go bad. And like many other foods, the expiration date can tell you more about when the eggs will taste better than when they might make you nauseous. For example, the FDA says that the eggs should be stored in the original carton and use within 3 weeks “for achieving the best possible quality.” Note that they don’t mention anything about food safety – just quality.
In his book How to Cook Everything , Mark Bittman says eggs can be good for four to five weeks beyond their renewal dates. And no, the packaging date is not the same as the expiration date, which usually says something like “before” or “until the end.” According to Food52, the packing date is a three-digit number ranging from 001 (January 1) to 365 (December 31), which corresponds to a day of the year. This is sometimes referred to as a “Julian date”. Here’s a cheat sheet if you need it.
Better yet, here’s a handy infographic from the Egg Safety Center explaining the differences between the two types of dates and where to find them on the carton:
Pour the eggs into a bowl of water.
Dates on cardboard boxes are great, but just because they come and go doesn’t mean you need to throw your eggs away . If you’re not sure if it’s safe to use an egg, here’s what you need to do :
Fill a bowl with cold water and place the egg inside. If it sinks to the bottom – good. If it sinks, but stands on its edge, this is good, but it will not work for a long time, and it should be used in the near future. If it floats, drop it. This works because old eggs will lose a lot of liquid inside, evaporating through the porous shell, causing the egg to float rather than sink.
Best of all, you don’t have to crack the shells to find out if your eggs are safe to eat, and this method only takes about a minute.
This story was originally published in 2012 and was updated on January 13, 2021 in line with the Lifehacker style guidelines.