unrefrigerated eggs

[Randall Twede]

how long do you think eggs would stay good in 100F?
do you think hard boiled eggs would last longer?

[Tim Holloway]

American eggs or European eggs?

American eggs, by law are required to be washed. They don't last long unless refrigerated.

In Europe, eggs are not washed. They are countertop safe. One reason why American refrigerators are bigger on average than  European ones. Along with larger living spaces and the fact that Americans refrigerate everything.

Still, 100°F (36°C) is fairly warm. Not a whole lot more heat and they'll start cooking. At about 144°F, the whites start to coagulate and my car's interior used to reach that temperature after sitting outside in January. I wouldn't really trust them more than a day or 2.

There are 2 dangers with eggs: internal decay and salmonella. One of the things that can raise salmonella risk is taking refrigerated eggs out and leaving them at room temperature - the condensaton on the shells facilitates bacteria growth. How long egg internal decay (assuming intact membranes) takes I don't know, although I understand that even a few weeks at European room temperatures is considered no big deal.  Europe is temperate, and America's Test Kitchen considers "room temperature" to be about 67 degrees. Where I live, "room temperature" is more like 83 degrees and even in winter, we can keep it at 69 without much energy.

As for hard-boiled egg lifespans, the US FDA's guidelines would depress the Easter Bunny, but they're considered by many to be overly pessimistic.

[Randall Twede]

well, ill eat one more omelets tonight.
eggs less than $1/dozen

[Randall Twede]

67F would be so good right now. 77 is the average low here. I don't have AC :=/

[Bear Bibeault]

To add to Tim's information, perhaps unintuitively, cooked eggs will not last as long as uncooked. The cooking process removes even more protection from the shell making them more susceptible to going bad.

[Randall Twede]

well thanks bear, that's what I really wanted to know ;^)

[Tim Holloway]

Welcome to the club. We're in the 94/94 (temperature/humidity) season and I don't expect to find 67 anywhere outside of a cold drink until about October 15 or so. Last night was a chilly 76.

I  grew up without A/C. Cured that as soon as I could buy one of my own.

I lived a year near Tampa Bay. Tampa has never officially logged a high temp greater than 99°. But the afternoon showers that make most of the state endurable tended to not arrive until well after dark. August nights were pure perdition.

[Campbell Ritchie]

I wouldn't like to keep eggs longer than two weeks in the Summer, and they are usually eaten within one week. But we never put them in the fridge We can get room temperatures into the low 70s (F) in the current summery weather.

[Winston Gutkowski]

Tim Holloway wrote:American eggs, by law are required to be washed. They don't last long unless refrigerated. In Europe, eggs are not washed. They are countertop safe.

Classic case of government interference "for safety reasons" causing the exact opposite.

There are 2 dangers with eggs: internal decay and salmonella.

For the first of which, at least, you have a nose. Bad eggs produce either Hydrogen or Ammonium Sulphide (possibly both), which are used in the stink bombs we used to buy as kids; so nature gives you fair warning that it might not be wise to eat 'em. Not so sure about Salmonella though.

Still, 100°F (36°C) is fairly warm.

About as warm as a chicken's bum I'd guess; so if they don't go off, you may get some new pets.

Winston

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

Winston Gutkowski wrote:

Still, 100°F (36°C) is fairly warm.

About as warm as a chicken's bum I'd guess; so if they don't go off, you may get some new pets.

From an unfertilized egg? That would take doing!

[Jan de Boer]

Randall Twede wrote:how long do you think eggs would stay good in 100F?

If you really want to save energy... my Chinese colleague and I discussed cooking during lunch. She told me an old Chinese trick here, is to saturate water with salt and then put the uncooked egg inside a closed jar with that saturated brine water. Even at a temperature of a Chinese summer, the eggs stay good for several months. If you want to use them, you have to cook them first. Especially the yolk seems to be good...

I tried it once, but I did not really like it. I ate it, it was not that bad, but not a delicacy.

[Tim Holloway]

Heh. That's short-term egg storage for Chinese.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_egg