I recently learned that it is better to bake with eggs that are at room tempurature. I have a cast iron rack to hold eggs safely until they are that warm. How long can I let eggs sit out on this rack? Is there a difference between how long grocery store eggs can sit out as opposed to homegrown eggs?

-- Leslie Romano (LrkAsc@aol.com), November 12, 2000

Answers

Response to How long can eggs sit out?

Don't know, but they do set in nests at room temperature until enough have been laid to justify the hen brooding them.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), November 12, 2000.

Response to How long can eggs sit out?

This seemed really odd to me when I first saw it, but in the parts of Mexico that we visit, they never refrigerate their eggs, and their climate is quite a bit warmer than ours. Don't know why it works, but it does. We eat eggs there all the time and have never gotten sick from them (other things yes, but not the eggs). Here at home, I usually don't always get to packing the eggs into cartons every day, so sometimes they sit for 24-48 hours at room temp before they make it to the refrig. These are usually the first ones I grab for our own use, as they're the freshest, and they always seem fine to me.

-- Rose Marie Wild (wintersongfarm@yahoo.com), November 12, 2000.

Response to How long can eggs sit out?

America is one of the few places I have been to the refrigerates eggs. In Europe, especially in small sea ports, where you buy eggs for sail ships they are not refrigerated and keep a long time (weeks). As soon as they are refrigerated, as the Europeans say, they are killed and will not keep without being refrigerated. Seems as I remember (it was a long time ago) a way to check good or bad by putting water.

-- JLS (stalkingbull007@AOL.com), November 12, 2000.

Response to How long can eggs sit out?

Eggs that float are the bad ones, I think, because they absorb oxygen through the shell. They keep for a long time if you don't wash them because they have a coating on the shell from the chicken and when you wash them you remove it which opens the pores and allows the oxygen to seep in. That is how K-pec works it reseals the pores(check for K-pecs add in Countryside) I would not leave store eggs sit out of the fridge. We have kept our eggs,unwashed, out for weeks, no problems.

-- Tom (Calfarm@msn.com), November 12, 2000.

Response to How long can eggs sit out?

I hate to wash eggs so I'll leave them out in a basket for up to three weeks (until I get a pile to wash at once) If I need eggs, I take from the bottom of the basket first.

I read that an unfertile egg is safe to eat after it has been under a chicken for nine days.

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), November 12, 2000.

Response to How long can eggs sit out?

Leslie, don't leave store eggs out of the refrig. long at all, not more than a few hours, they already could be up to a year old! Fresh home raised eggs will keep at average room temperature for at least 3-4 weeks, but the whites become runnier as the time increases. I regularly leave a few cartons of our eggs set for at least 2-3 weeks to be able to peel them after hardboiling them. Annie in SE OH.

-- Annie Miller (annie@1st.net), November 12, 2000.

Response to How long can eggs sit out?

My dad refused to eat any eggs that were refrigerated. He claimed they tasted bad. I've seen them sit out for well over a month. He always sat them on top of the fridge. The government allows egg producers to store eggs in warehouses up to 1 year, and they are still allowed to be marked fresh. yuk,yeek. Fresh farm raised eggs are the best!

-- hillbilly (internethillbilly@hotmail.com), November 12, 2000.

Response to How long can eggs sit out?

Wow!You learn new stuff all the time on this forum!I'd been throwing my eggs out if they sat more than a week at room temperature. Blessings~~~Tracy~~~

-- Tracy Jo Neff (tntneff@ifriendly.com), November 16, 2000.

Response to How long can eggs sit out?

We've kept a stash of eggs (our chickens, of course) out in the garage for 6 weeks. No problems. I don't sell these, though. I am more concerned about eggs in the summer months, just because our eggs are fertile and I personally don't like eating ones with bloody spots in them (after the embryo starts to develop) although they don't hurt you. (Summer = more eggs, warmer development, broody hens, etc.)

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), November 16, 2000.