Room temperature eggs

[Irving]

*This original thread was started on 3/25/12.*

I saw on an episode of Doomsday Preppers where a lady was able to store eggs at room temperature for 9-12 months. She said that she coated them in mineral oil and just set them on the shelf.

When chickens lay eggs, there is a substance surrounding the egg called the Bloom. This is a kind of membrane that seals the porous shell of the egg and prevents bacteria from getting inside of the egg and spoiling it. As long as the bloom is not washed away, eggs can be stored at room temperature for several weeks, as they apparently do in many parts of Europe.

In the US, eggs are washed before being sent to stores, thus opening up the pores of an egg's shell. The only way to keep them fresh is by refrigeration. The idea behind the mineral oil, is that it mimics the bloom and keeps the egg sealed from bacteria.

I decided to conduct my own experiment to see how well this works with store bought eggs in the US. I purchased a carton of six eggs from the store and took them home to store them at room temperature. The purchase date was 25 MAR 12. I coated all six eggs in Bag Balm, as I do not have any mineral oil, and marked the box. At the same time, I selected two eggs from my refrigerator, also marked them with the date, and set them inside an opened sandwich baggie to prevent them from rolling away.

The plan is to eat one bag balm covered egg each month, so that by the last egg, it will be 6 months old. The two eggs in the bag will be eaten if I think they are safe.

**It has been brought to my attention that any marking of eggs directly on the shell should use pencil instead of Sharpie, so as not to leach chemicals from the Sharpie into the egg. It was also mentioned that any chemicals in the Bag Balm could leach through as well.**

Here are the pictures:

The six eggs to be coated and eaten:


The eggs all prepared:


Where they will be stored:

[Irving]

Someone chimed in on the original thread that there is a simple rule of thumb test that I can use to determine if the eggs have gone bad. When placed into a pot of water, a good egg will sink to the bottom and lay flat, while a spoiled egg will float. The egg may stand on one end as it starts to go bad.

I am thankful for this test being mentioned, as my control egg that was uncoated and stored in the open baggie immediately floated and was definitely bad. I've taken some videos to show. I'll post the rest of the videos and the pictures tomorrow.





Here they are cooked. In both of these pictures, the "old" egg is the one on the right half.

[Irving]

Okay, it has been just over 12 hours since I ate the 1.5 month old egg, and I have not died or vomited.

[TFOGGER]

Did you eat them with green ham, Sam I am?

[Irving]

I had 12 strips of control bacon for this experiment.

[GilpinGuy]

Very cool. Interesting that the fresh egg (control) was on end.

[roberth]

I had 12 strips of control bacon for this experiment.

Bacon makes everything right.

[GilpinGuy]

Bacon makes everything right.

It sure does. I have 10 lbs curing right now. Next Tuesday it gets smoked. Yummy.

[Irving]

Okay, all videos and pictures are up.

[pepito]

Was about to head to the gym, looks like a trip to IHOP is an order.