Getting ready for Easter brunch or an Easter egg hunt? Here are some food safety tips from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) about eggs.
Raw in-shell eggs can be kept in the refrigerator for three to five weeks. Never eat eggs that have an off smell when you crack them or eggs with whites that are pink or iridescent. Both are indications of spoilage.
Raw eggs combined with other ingredients according to recipe directions, should be cooked immediately or refrigerated and cooked within 24 hours. Eggs should be cooked until their yolks are firm. Egg casseroles should be cooked to a minimum internal temperature of 160 °F as indicated by a food thermometer to be sure.
Hard-boiled eggs can be kept in the refrigerator for up to one week. If you are dyeing, coloring or decorating them make sure they get back into the refrigerator within two hours. If you are using the eggs in an egg hunt, don’t eat any that were placed on the ground or left out for more than 2 hours. Do not eat hard-cooked eggs with broken or cracked shells. Hard-boiled eggs with unbroken, colored shells that are free of cracks are safe to peel and eat if the coloring used was food-safe.
Trouble peeling? That means the egg was fresh. The longer an egg is stored, the more it contracts, expanding the air cell around it. Boiled eggs that are the easiest to peel are the ones with the largest air cells, so use up your old eggs when hard boiling a batch.
Green layer around the yolk of your hard boiled egg? That is the result of over cooking or high iron content in the cooking water. That green line is ferrous sulfide that is formed when iron from the yolk (or water) reacts with hydrogen sulfide from the egg white. To prevent this, place eggs in cold water, bring to a boil over high heat, then cover and remove from the heat. Let stand 15 minutes for large eggs, 12 minutes for medium eggs, then place the pan in the sink and run cold water over the eggs until they are cool. Immediately refrigerate.
