Do boiled eggs float? How to select and store fresh, quality eggs

People who at least sometimes go into the kitchen to not only eat, but also cook something, notice useful little things over time. For example, that eggs do not float during cooking, but lie on the bottom. Therefore, the vague suspicions that arise when a raw egg floats in water are not unfounded.

What is there inside?

The difficulties of determining the freshness of such a product when buying are obvious. Especially in supermarkets, where eggs are often sold in closed, opaque packaging. But everything becomes clear when we bring them home and start cooking. If at the same time you have to break them, then the following signs should alert you:

  1. The smell of hydrogen sulfide.
  2. Opaque white.
  3. When broken into a pan or bowl, the yolk immediately spreads.

But how do you test the freshness of an egg without breaking it? Just immerse in water. If the egg floats in the water, it is spoiled or stale.

Why does a spoiled egg float?

Contrary to popular belief, an egg is not hermetic at all. The shell has pores so that the chick can breathe. But in addition to oxygen, microorganisms also penetrate through them. As a result of the vital activity of some of them, putrefactive processes develop and gases are released. If an egg floats in water, it means that a lot of gases have accumulated in it, which are lighter than water.

By the way, even if there are no harmful microorganisms inside that cause decay and bad smell, the old egg will still float. Air gradually accumulates between the protein and shell membranes on the blunt side. For the same reason, a stale egg is very light.

By the way, this is why it is recommended to store eggs with the blunt end up so that the yolk does not come into contact with air chamber. And it is better not to put them in a compartment in the refrigerator door, as its frequent opening leads to the fact that they deteriorate faster.

If the egg does not fully float

When, when immersed in water, the egg immediately goes to the bottom and takes a horizontal position, then we have a very fresh product. But as time goes on inside chemical processes change the consistency of the protein and yolk, making them more liquid. Therefore, if the egg floats in the water with a blunt end up, then it is about a week old. So, you can still eat it. If it takes a vertical position, then it is about 2-3 weeks old. An egg that is more than a month old floats completely and cannot be eaten.

deceptive salt

Knowledgeable people add a little salt when boiling eggs so that accidentally broken eggs do not leak out. Therefore, it should be noted that if you first added salt to the water, then the correct definition of freshness will be in question. The fact is that salt increases. If an egg floats in water that has previously been salted, this does not necessarily mean that it is stale. But if it lies horizontally even in salt water, then there can be no fresh product.

How to determine the quality of eggs in the store

So that it does not happen that all three dozen eggs bought suddenly surface, you should try to determine their freshness when buying.

  1. Look It must be borne in mind that the class of the product must be indicated on the packaging. There are diet eggs that can be stored for no more than 8 days, and there are table eggs (print of blue color), which we most often buy. Their maximum shelf life is a month. There is also a class of long-term ones. They can be kept in the refrigerator for about six months, but these are rarely found in stores.
  2. Examine the surface. The shell should be matte and slightly rough. It is smooth and shiny only in stale eggs.
  3. Weigh the egg in your hand. If it is old, it will be very light in weight.
  4. Shake the egg. When it is fresh, the yolk does not move inside. This means that you will not feel that something is hanging in the shell, and you will not hear any sounds when shaking.

Well, now we have figured out what's what, and realized that if the egg floats completely in the water, then it is stale, or even rotten. However, a boiled egg may float up, mistakenly placed next to raw ones, but such confusion rarely occurs. Therefore, it is better not to save on health and throw away a stale product.

Hello dear friends! You have probably noticed that when you put eggs in a cold salt water, some pop up. Many thought about how to check them for freshness without tasting them. It doesn't always smell bad. Most often, you realize that it is rotten, only by preparing it. How to determine the freshness of a product? If the egg floats in cold water, what does it mean? I will tell you about this today.

For testing we need:

  • Deep saucer, preferably transparent.
  • Cold water.
  • Eggs.

This method makes it easy to determine whether eggs can be eaten or better thrown away. Our grandmothers also used it.

With eggs, water and salt, children's experiments are carried out to explain to the child physical properties water. This knowledge is applied, as you noticed, to determine the freshness of the product. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uEH23Vn6_U

Why do raw eggs float?

Under the shell there is an under-shell film, moisture and air pass through it, but protein does not pass through. At the blunt end of the egg oval, the shell peels off to form an air sac. Over time, some moisture and carbon dioxide evaporate from the product, so the contents are compressed and some of the air under the shell increases. The longer the egg lies, the more air accumulates in it.

This transformation causes non-fresh eggs to float.

An unpleasant odor is formed when the protein decomposes. Under the action of microorganisms, hydrogen sulfide gas is released. It gives off a rotten egg smell. Eating rotten eggs can lead to nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. Signs of poisoning will appear in the period from 6 to 72 hours after eating them.

Why do boiled eggs float on the surface

All boiled eggs lie at the bottom of the bowl and only one floats for some reason. What is the reason? I think many of you have experienced the phenomenon of hard-boiled popping in cold water. There is no mystery here. As mentioned above, the longer it is stored, the more air is formed in it. When cooked, this air does not go anywhere, but is collected in one place under the shell. Most often from his blunt side. You can break up and make sure the air bag in the swimmer is bigger than the rest. This indicates not the first freshness of the product. He was kept long time and the protein began to evaporate.

Quail eggs

Quail eggs are much healthier than chicken eggs, although they are much smaller in size. You can buy them in supermarkets, but will they be fresh? How to check it now I will tell. To check the freshness of such a product, you need to break it into a plate. Fresh protein is thick, if it is liquid, watery, then the egg is bad. The yolk of a hard-boiled egg is bright yellow when cut. If he's pale yellow color, which means that it has already lost its nutritional qualities. The weight of the good quail egg from 10 to 12 grams. If the testicle seemed very light to you, it means that it has already begun to dry out.

Unlike chicken egg quail does not go rotten due to the content of lysozyme in it - an antibacterial substance. Therefore, when the expiration date has expired, it tends to dry out. The shell of a real high-quality testicle should be camouflage. If it is white or soft, then such a product is not of high quality. You can also tell about freshness by the location of the yolk. Smashed it on a plate.

The yolk should be almost in the middle of the protein, if it is closer to the edge, then the egg is not the first freshness. Friends, I think you have learned useful and Interesting Facts and put them into practice. On that I say goodbye to you until we meet again on the pages of our blog. Subscribe to news, put classes, share information with friends on social networks. Goodbye.

On our site you can find a lot of how-tos on the theme of eggs. For example, or. Today we will talk about why rotten eggs have the ability to float in water.

In general, our distant ancestors began to check this product for freshness in this way. Even then they knew that spoiled eggs do not sink in water. Let's explain this phenomenon in terms of science. So, under the shell is the shell membrane, consisting of two layers. It has the ability to pass air and moisture through itself. As you know, eggs have two edges: one is sharp, the other is blunt. In the latter, this same shell is stratified, resulting in a small air chamber (called puga). The older the eggs, the greater the volume of the scarecrow in it.

Interestingly, even though the shell looks completely protected from exposure outside world, it's not like that at all. She, for example, quite easily passes microbes through herself. Moreover, this happens almost immediately after the chicken has laid the egg (up to this point, being in the body of the bird, it is a sterile-clean product). When putrefactive processes begin under the shell due to microbes, a gas is released that forms an extremely unpleasant smell of hydrogen sulfide, which results from protein decomposition. Since air and the resulting gases are much lighter than water, a stale egg simply floats up when you put it in a pan.

If eggs float in water, what does it mean? Can't they be cooked?

  1. clearly they are corrupted. This is usually used to check the freshness of eggs.
  2. It's about whether you can eat them boiled if you cook for a long time! ???
  3. they say if an egg floats with a blunt end, then it is a week old and you can eat it, and if it is sharp, then it is better to throw it away
  4. They DO NOT cook! They have deteriorated. If the eggs sink in water, then they are fresh, if they float slightly, then you need to hurry up to eat them, and if they float, then they are stale. Tip: it is better to store eggs in the refrigerator with the blunt end up and the sharp end down, so they will keep their freshness longer, checked!
  5. I think it's impossible
  6. They are old, just throw away.
  7. of course you can't
  8. Not a single fresh egg will ever float.
    If the egg has surfaced, it means only one thing. It's old!
    The reason lies in the fact that over time the air cavity in the egg increases.
    Some boil eggs in salt water so that the shell does not burst, it is well cleaned. It is a myth.
    But already a 7-10 day old egg is quite suitable for food, subject to storage conditions, in salt water it can slightly float in the water column. It has to do with density.
  9. Floating eggs spoil my appetite and I change them =)
  10. Eat them, don't care 😉
  11. It's cool, as if several eggs floated up with a blunt end, I'm not afraid to cook))))
  12. If the eggs surfaced, it means that your husband cheated on you today ...
  13. The eggs are not very fresh. You can cook, and there it will be seen - how not fresh. Maybe it's nothing to worry about :)
  14. Rotten.
  15. I can only add to all the other answers: break it, you will see for yourself, and then you will imagine how much the egg floats and how stale it is.
  16. Old, dry and lighter than water.
  17. Just a hundred years ago, the freshness and quality of an egg was determined precisely with the help of water. The dubious egg was simply placed in a container of water. If the egg sank to the bottom, everything is in order. This showed that the egg was quite fresh and fit for consumption even when raw.

    If the egg stopped in the fall and floated somewhere in the middle of the container, it was believed that the egg was already thinking, and it should be immediately put into use (and not in a raw form), because after a short amount of time it will become unusable.

    If an egg, dipped in water, floated up and floated in it, as ... a leaf in the hole, the conclusion was unambiguous: you should not eat such an egg. Better to throw it in the trash.

    Under the shell of the egg, the processes of decay and decomposition of the protein begin, as a result of which gases are released (and then the putrid smell of hydrogen sulfide appears), which, as is known since school, is lighter than water. And the more the process of decay, the more gases, which, having combined with the air already in the egg, raise the spoiled egg to the very surface of the water. So, if the egg floats at the very neck of the water container, this means that the egg is not only old, but also rotten.

  18. it is forbidden

People who at least from time to time go into the kitchen, not only to eat, but also to cook something, notice useful little things over time. For example, that the eggs do not float during cooking, but lie on the bottom. Therefore, the vague suspicions that arise when a raw egg floats in water are not unfounded.

What's inside anyway?

The difficulties of determining the freshness of such a product when buying are obvious. Especially in hypermarkets, where eggs are often sold in closed, opaque packaging. But everything becomes clear when we bring them home and start cooking. If with all this you have to break them, then the following signs should make you think:

  1. The smell of hydrogen sulfide.
  2. Opaque white.
  3. When broken into a pan or into a bowl, the yolk immediately spreads.

But how do you test the freshness of an egg without breaking it? Just drop it into the water. If the testicle floats in the water, it is spoiled or stale.

Why does a broken testicle float?

Contrary to popular belief, the testicle is not hermetic at all. The shell has pores so that the chick can breathe. But apart from oxygen, the smallest organisms also get inside through them. As a result of the vital activity of some of them, rotten processes develop and gases are released. If the testicle floated in the water, it means that a lot of gases have accumulated in it, which are lighter than water.

By the way, even if there are no harmful microbes inside that cause smoldering and a nasty smell, an old testicle will still float up. Air evenly accumulates between the protein and shell membranes on the blunt side. For the same reason, a stale testicle is very light.

By the way, this is why it is recommended to store the eggs with the blunt end up so that the yolk does not come into contact with the air chamber. And it is better not to put them in the compartment in the refrigerator door, because its frequent opening leads to the fact that they deteriorate faster.

If the testicle pops up not one hundred percent

When, when immersed in water, the testicle immediately goes to the bottom and takes a horizontal position, then we have a very fresh product. But over time, the chemical processes occurring inside change the consistency of the protein and yolk, making them more watery. Therefore, if the testicle floated up in the water with a blunt end up, it means that it is about a week old. So, you can still eat it. If it perceives a vertical position, then it is about 2-3 weeks old. An egg that is more than a month old floats one hundred percent, and you can’t eat it.

deceptive salt

Understanding people add little salt when boiling eggs, so that accidentally broken eggs do not leak out. Therefore, it must be emphasized that if you first added salt to the water, then the correct definition of freshness will be in question. The fact is that salt increases the density of water. If an egg floats in water that was previously salted, this does not necessarily mean that it is stale. But if it lies horizontally even in salt water, then there can be no fresh product.

How to find the quality of eggs in the store

So that it does not happen that all three 10 purchased eggs suddenly float, you should try to find their freshness when buying.

  1. Look at the expiration date. It must be understood that the class of the product must be indicated on the packaging. There are diet eggs that store less than 8 days, and there are canteens (print blue color), which we buy in most cases. Their longest shelf life is a month. There is also a class of long-term ones. They can be kept in the refrigerator for about six months, but these are occasionally found in stores.
  2. Check out the surface. The shell should be matte and slightly rough. It is smooth and shiny only in stale eggs.
  3. Weigh the testicle in your hand. If it is old, it will be very light in weight.
  4. Shake the egg. When it is fresh, the yolk does not move inside. This means that you will not feel that something is hanging in the shell, and you will not hear any sounds when shaking.

Well, now we have figured out what's what, and figured out that if the testicle floated in the water completely, it means it is stale, or even rotten. In general, a boiled egg can swim up, mistakenly placed next to raw ones, but such a mess happens occasionally. Therefore, it is better not to save on health and throw out a stale product.

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