We eat a lot of eggs. A LOT. We used to eat a dozen when we scrambled eggs, but now we’ve upped that to a minimum of 18 eggs – 14 if we’re skimping. But one thing I usually didn’t do was a lot of hard-boiled eggs. Why? WORK!!!
There’s a lot of tips out there that tell you hard-boiling eggs is a good way to use up old eggs that are in the fridge. This is because there is an air cell in the wide end of every egg. If you look closely, or if you have chickens and have to package eggs, you’ll see that almost every egg has a wide end and a pointed end. The wide end of an egg should be “up” when the egg is in the carton, but I digress.
After each egg is laid, the air cell is tiny. As the egg “ages” the air cell increases in size, because the egg slowly loses moisture through the porous shell. When you hard-boil eggs you can tell their age by how much of a dimple there is in the end of the egg. No dimple = very fresh egg. Large, slanted section on the end of the egg = 3 weeks (or much more!) old. This air cell is one reason those old eggs are so easy to peel.
But what do you do when you have to deal with home-grown, freshly-laid, hard-shelled eggs? These are a PAIN to peel! Even with the special method of cooking the egg just right, then pouring the hot water out, covering with ice and water and chilling quickly, it’s still difficult.
Back when we used to raise quail and were inundated with eggs, we found a way. And it still works – even with chicken and, lately, turkey eggs. (If you EVER get the opportunity to have quail egg salad, you’ll never forget it. It is the CREAMIEST because there is so much yolk in those eggs – even though they are so tiny and it takes about 40 to make any decent amount of egg salad…)
So here’s the tip: Before you boil eggs, tap the wide end of each egg on the counter just before you put it in the pan. You want to tap it until you hear THAT sound. You know, the sound you hear when your children are handling eggs, one drops a little too hard, and you just KNOW that it’s slightly cracked. You should have trouble finding the crack. (If you can see the crack, but egg is not oozing out, it will still work. That egg will just be kind of “frilly” – egg white will leak out and harden as it cooks. IF it oozes all over the counter and floor, just call your dog in to clean it up – PLEASE don’t ask me how I know these things!) Boil according to your usual recipe – we bring our eggs to a boil, simmer for 10-15 minutes, then dump out the hot water.
Here's a batch of eggs just after boiling - before chilling in ice water. The tiny crack sometimes "travels" around the shell, making it even easier to peel.
Chill quickly in ice water and peel as soon as they are cool. To peel, I usually tap the hard boiled eggs on the counter, roll them around under my hand to crack the shell all over, dip it in water, then start peeling. If I did everything right, the little bits of shell come off all connected to the inner “lining” of the egg.
Why it works: My observations have shown that the tiny crack lets in a little of the water which gets in around the lining of the egg. When you quickly cool the eggs so that they shrink, the egg “peels” itself away from the shell. We first noticed this with our accidentally cracked eggs – now we crack our eggs on purpose before boiling, even “store-boughten” ones.
For some more egg information, check out our unusual homeschool egg experience…
I have some other Works For Me Wednesday tips, but there’s literally hundreds more at We Are THAT Family.
Thank you for this tip. I have had friends give me the funniest looks at picnics as I attempt to get any edible egg left after peeling my farm fresh eggs. I didn’t realize the freshness was making this harder on me! They never believed me when I said I dunked them in ice water right away after cooking. Thanks for verifying my sanity, too.
I will definitely be trying this when I boil eggs next week.
~Erin
Now, this is an egg secret I’ve never heard before! I’ll have to try it…thanks!
Very clever. I have to admit I wondered how you knew that at first but I realize, it’s experience! I love hard boiled eggs and my kids do too.
What a lovely big family you have. I always wanted a big family but the Lord chose to bless us with two. Still, I am very thankful for those two!
Love this tip! I don’t like eggs, but my little ones do and I would make them more often if I knew how to do it easily. We’ve considered going to farm-fresh eggs because I’m thinking I’ll like them better. At any rate, great tip!
ok so I have done that many times… by mistake. I never thought of accidentally cracking it being a good way to make the eggs easier to open. now isn’t that funny? what I saw as an imperfection in my cooking was actually an innovative time saving tip – go figure!
Wow. Never heard this one before. I have been having trouble peeling them lately! I’ve also heard adding oil to the water helps because eggs are porous and absorb the oil, which makes them easier to peel, but I’ve never tried. Thanks for the tip!
Oh, no – do digress! Why should the wide end be up? I’m so curious now! My in-laws currently have the run of the chicken house, but I know it will be falling into our lap before long . . .
I’ve never heard this particular tip before. I have some eggs at home that I was going to hard boil so I’ll have to try it. Thanks.
Excellent tip! Thank you! My son adores hard boiled eggs, and this will help!
I can NOT wait to try this. Oh, how I hate peeling eggs.
Thank you so much for this tip!! I had such trouble the last time I boiled eggs that I actually ended up giving up and throwing the last 3 away. Eggs were on sale in my area last week so I have 4 dozen waiting to be cooked up. I can’t wait to try this!
If you want to keep the eggs fresher longer have the pointy end down. If pointy end up it is ‘absorbing’ ‘energy’, which means doesn’t keep as long. I was explained this by Viktor Schauberger in one of his books. The egg shape is very important in nature.
If you pour a BIG dollop of salt in the water, they peel alot easier, too. It would save cracking time.
Wow – I have never tried that! Will definitely do so the next time we boil eggs. Thanks!
I am SO happy to know this secret!!! I have not tried it on our fresh eggs (not enough to hard-boil!), but I used it tonight on Costco eggs. Amazing!!! Thanks so much for sharing! I had to share this on my FB page!
(Oh, I did not put salt in the water; forgot that! looks like it didn’t matter for these eggs…)