How Long Can You Eat Easter Eggs?
My mom never cared about cheap Easter candy, but she loved to eat colored eggs. As a child, it shocked and puzzled me, and not only because I preferred chocolate. To me, a child who found eggs and lifted them with her sticky baby hands, it just didn’t seem hygienic. But Easter eggs are safe to eat if you timing.
The room temperature hard-boiled egg window is two hours, which leaves you plenty of time to decorate, but people usually don’t boil or decorate eggs, but hide and hunt them straight away. At least in my childhood home, eggs were cooked and decorated the day before, and then kept in the refrigerator until Easter morning, after which my parents hid them.
This is where things get a little more complicated. According to the USDA , the safety of eggs depends on where you hide them, how quickly they are discovered, and how carefully they are handled:
Hunting eggs: We do not recommend using hard-boiled eggs that have been on the ground because they can collect bacteria, especially if the shell is cracked. If the shell cracks, bacteria can infect the inside of the shell. Eggs should be hidden away from dirt, moisture, pets, and other sources of bacteria. The total time for hiding and hunting for eggs should not exceed 2 hours. Eggs “found” must be washed, chilled again and eaten within 7 days of cooking.
In addition to hiding the eggs in fairly clean spots, washing them, and discarding any that have cracks, make sure you use safe food coloring or use actual food to color them — if you plan to snack on the eggs you find. Or, you can just use these plastic eggs, put the lollipop in them, and eat the lollipop instead. I say you have a lot of good options.