We buy eggs at the market or supermarket. Unfortunately, it is impossible to check this product for freshness right at the counter; you have to trust the stickers with the expiration date. And only at home you can understand whether the eggs were bought fresh or not.

It is simply impossible to determine the freshness of eggs, as they say “by eye”. This product can last for a long time room temperature and no external manifestations are noticeable. Often buyers ask the seller how fresh the eggs are and the answer is always the same: “The eggs are fresh, take them.” You can check whether an egg is really fresh like this: break it and determine its freshness by its characteristic smell. If it is repulsive, then the egg is spoiled. But breaking eggs all the time is not part of our plans, so we will check the freshness of the eggs in other ways.

How to check the freshness of eggs in water

Take a large container, such as a saucepan. You need to pour cold water into it directly from the tap (no more than 10 cm), and then place the eggs in it. You can take turns so as not to get confused and determine the freshness of each product sequentially.

How to tell if eggs are fresh:

• If the eggs fall to the bottom and do not float to the top, then you are lucky - you bought fresh, fresh eggs.
• If you see that the eggs are slightly raised with the blunt tip up, this means that the eggs are no longer very fresh. They can still be used, but not in fresh, and prepare hot dishes (pastries, scrambled eggs, omelettes).
• If the eggs float, then they are definitely spoiled and such a product is generally prohibited from being eaten. Such eggs must be thrown away immediately. Do you know why it happens that an egg floats to the surface in water? Every day the moisture gradually evaporates and this space is filled with air. The older the product, the more air it contains and therefore the eggs float.

There is another similar way to test eggs: you need to pour salt into the water to make the solution concentrated. You also need to lower the eggs and look: if they lie on the bottom, then the “age” of such a product is approximately 2 to 7 days. If the egg rises with the blunt end, and the sharp end remains “glued” to the bottom, then this product is approximately 10 days old. If the eggs float in a salty solution, then such eggs are already about 2 weeks old. If the eggs float to the surface saline solution and “stick out” from it, then such eggs are prohibited from being eaten, they are not fresh.

Other ways to check eggs for freshness

An egg can be broken if one of the eggs tested in water floats, and then the white and yolk can be examined. By appearance of these components we can say the following:

• if the white is runny and the yolk has become flat, then the egg is not fresh;
• If the white is dense and viscous, and the yolk is convex, then the egg is fresh.

Another way to check eggs for freshness: you just need to shake the egg, if you don’t hear anything, then the eggs can be safely eaten, if you hear a “squish” or a splash, as well as any other sound, this means that there is air inside, which means This egg is no longer fresh and should not be eaten.

About the expiration date and storage rules for eggs

The manufacturer always indicates the expiration date of the product on the packaging. If the eggs were stored correctly, in compliance with all the rules, then they will be fresh.

What to look for when buying eggs:

• You need to buy fresh eggs, so pay attention to the expiration date of the product. If it's expired, don't take the risk.
• You need to store eggs in a cool place - in the refrigerator at a temperature no higher than +6 o C. If you keep eggs at home on the table, they will spoil faster.
• You need to cook the eggs for at least 5 minutes.
• If the expiration date has expired, then these eggs can be eaten, but only on condition that the eggs were stored in the refrigerator and such a product must be cooked at sufficient temperature. high temperature(from +70 o C).
• If you see that the egg has burst, then it is prohibited to store it. It is advisable to prepare something from such a product.

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

What's inside?

The difficulties of determining the freshness of such a product when purchasing 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 you have to break them, then the following signs should alert you:

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

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

Why does a spoiled egg float?

Contrary to popular belief, the egg is not airtight at all. The shell has pores so the chick can breathe. But in addition to oxygen, microorganisms also penetrate through them. As a result of the life 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 rotting and bad smell, the old egg will still float. Air gradually accumulates between the albumen and subshell membranes on the blunt side. For the same reason not fresh egg 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 the air chamber. And it is better not to place them in a compartment in the refrigerator door, since opening it frequently leads to them deteriorating faster.

If the egg does not float completely

When, when immersed in water, the egg immediately sinks to the bottom and takes a horizontal position, then we have a very fresh product. But over time, what's happening inside chemical processes change the consistency of the white and yolk, making them more liquid. Therefore, if the egg floats in the water with the blunt end up, it means it is about a week old. Therefore, it can still be eaten. 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 correct definition 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 fresher product and it cannot be.

How to determine the quality of eggs in a store

To prevent all three dozen purchased eggs from suddenly floating, you should try to determine their freshness before purchasing.

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

Well, now we’ve figured out what’s what, and we realized that if the egg floats completely in the water, it means it’s not fresh, or even rotten. However, it may emerge boiled egg, mistakenly placed next to raw ones, but such confusion rarely occurs. Therefore, it is better not to skimp on your health and throw away the stale product.

In this situation it is possible two options:

1. egg, pre-cooked, turned out to be spoiled - rotten, and that’s why it pops up.
2. if fresh egg, then in the boiled state its density is less than the density of water, which is why it floats.

• It seems to me that after boiling the shell of an egg stops allowing air to pass through, but in a fresh egg it passes through it. And since the egg has a small cavity filled with air, that’s why it floats. Although I won’t say for sure.

  Explanation this phenomenon following. As a rule, a boiled stale egg (which has been left in the refrigerator for quite some time) or a spoiled egg floats to the surface of the water. The fact is that the egg shell has a fine porous structure. How longer egg lies, the more it is saturated with air, and the protein dries out. As a result, the egg loses its mass and floats to the surface of the cold water after cooking. In spoiled eggs, rotting processes occur, during which the mass of the egg also decreases and gases are released. For this reason, a spoiled egg also floats to the surface of the water.

  In a spoiled egg, under the shell (in the subshell membrane), air and gases accumulate from the vital activity of putrefactive bacteria and microorganisms that have entered it. And they are lighter than water, which is why such an egg floats.

  Boiled egg in cold water pops up only if it is quite old or spoiled (it may not be spoiled, just old). Since a bird egg breathes, breathing through the diffusion of gases passing through thousands of microscopic pores in the shell, over time its internal content dries out, that is, it decreases, while the size of the air chamber and the amount of air in it increases. And since there is more air in the chamber, accordingly, at a certain time the egg becomes lighter, and therefore floats.

  A fresh boiled egg will never float! At least how many of these eggs have I boiled in my life, even cracked egg it floated up only if a lot of protein leaked out of it.

  I think an old egg might float to the surface. It can be quite edible. It just lost some of its mass during storage. But still, it is better to treat such an egg with caution; if there is at least some hint that it is missing, it is better to throw it away.

  

  A good fresh egg will not float if placed in water. But an old, stale or missing egg becomes lighter than water and floats to its surface.

  Due to long-term storage, the contents of the egg dry out, there is more air in the nm and it rises up.

  When microbes penetrate inside the egg, fermentation begins with the release of gases and the egg again becomes lighter.

  So this is a sign that if an egg floats up, be wary of it. My wife immediately throws it away just in case. She is wary of this. Especially after one of the sons ended up in an infectious diseases hospital after eating eggs.

  Either spoiled or old eggs float in the water. Regardless of whether they are fresh or boiled. In old eggs, the white dries out and there is a lot of air, which penetrates through the pores in the eggshell. And in spoiled eggs, rotting and fermentation products occur with the release of gases, such as hydrogen sulfide, which also makes the egg lighter and it rises to the surface.

  Fresh eggs lie at the bottom.

  

  If you put an egg in cold water that we took from under a chicken, it will not float up.

  But if you keep the Egg, for example, in the refrigerator for 15 days or more, then during this time it will accumulate a large number of air.

  After this, the egg will float because the air causes the egg to weigh less.

  Boats that are made of steel work the same way, but because there is a large amount of air there, the boats do not sink.

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 eggs do not float when boiled, but lie on the bottom. Therefore, the vague suspicions that arise when a raw egg floats in water are not unfounded.

What's inside there anyway?

The difficulties of determining the freshness of such a product when purchasing 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 in all this you have to break them, then the following signs should make you think:

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

But how can you check the freshness of an egg without breaking it? Just put it in the water. If the egg floats in the water, it is spoiled or stale.

Why does a spoiled egg float to the surface?

Contrary to popular belief, the testicle is not at all hermetically sealed. The shell has pores so the chick can breathe. But in addition to oxygen, the smallest organisms also enter through them. As a result of the life activity of some of them, rotten 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 microbes inside that cause decay and a nasty smell, the old egg will still float up. Air evenly accumulates between the albumen and subshell 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 the eggs with the blunt end facing up so that the yolk does not come into contact with the air chamber. And it’s better not to place them in a compartment in the refrigerator door, because frequently opening it leads to them deteriorating more quickly.

If the testicle does not float one hundred percent

When, when immersed in water, the egg immediately sinks to the bottom and assumes a horizontal position, then we have a very fresh product. But over time, internal chemical processes change the consistency of the white and yolk, making them more watery. Therefore, if the testicle floats out in the water with its blunt end up, it means it is about a week old. Therefore, it can still be eaten. 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 cannot be eaten.

Deceptive salt

Understanding people add a little salt when boiling eggs, so that broken eggs do not accidentally leak out. Therefore, it is necessary to emphasize that if you first added salt to the water, then the correct determination of freshness will be in question. The fact is that salt increases the density of water. 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 the product cannot be fresher.

How to find the quality of eggs in a store

To prevent all three 10 purchased eggs from suddenly floating away, you should try to find their freshness when purchasing.

1. Check the expiration date. It must be understood that the product class must be indicated on the packaging. There are diet eggs that last less than 8 days, and there are table eggs (blue print), which we buy in most cases. Their longest shelf life is a month. There is also a class of long-lasting 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 testicle on 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 anything is loose in the shell, and you will not hear any sounds when shaking.

Well, now we’ve figured out what’s what, and realized that if an egg floats in the water one hundred percent, it means it’s not fresh, or even rotten. In general, it can swim out boiled egg, mistakenly placed next to raw ones, but such confusion occurs occasionally. Therefore, it is better not to save on your health and throw away the stale product.

This is one of the simplest and most visual experiments that can be done at home. We only need a raw egg, a glass and a little salt. For clarity, we took two glasses and two raw eggs.

Let's begin our experience. Pour regular tap water into one of the glasses. Place the egg in the glass. What happened? The egg sank and sank to the bottom of the glass. In the photo below, the curvature of the glass has caused the egg to be comically distorted.

Pour warm water into the second glass. Add 6 tablespoons of salt to this glass. And stir the salt very well so that it is completely dissolved in the water.

Now comes the fun part. Carefully lower the second egg into the glass in which you just dissolved the salt. The egg floats on the surface!

Explanation of experience

The average density of an egg is much higher than the density of tap water. When we dissolve salt in water, its density increases and the egg no longer sinks in it. Thus, a simple conclusion can be drawn: objects sink in liquid if their density is higher than the density of the liquid.

We can observe a similar effect at sea. Sea water is very salty and has high density. It's like she's pushing us out of the water. Staying afloat in such water is much easier than swimming in a fresh body of water, of course, if sea waves do not interfere.

Density and weight

I will try to explain “on the fingers” what density is. Density can be defined as the amount of matter contained in a given space or volume. If the amount of substance (amount of matter) in a given space or volume is greater, then the object is said to be denser and heavier at the same time. But density and weight are not the same thing, they are not interchangeable concepts.

Weight is determined by the force of gravity acting on an object. Unlike density, weight depends on the magnitude of attraction at a particular location. For example, consider regular egg. Its density remains the same no matter where it is located. Even if you place it in space in zero gravity, its density will not change. But an egg in space will lose its weight!

Why does an egg sink or float?

As already said, if you lower an object that is denser than fresh water, then the object sinks. This is what happened when we lowered the egg into fresh tap water - the egg is denser, it repels water particles and makes room for itself, sinking to the bottom. But when we put an egg in salt water, salty water heavier than fresh water, it has more ability to keep the egg afloat.

Why does salt make water denser?

But why does salt, when dissolved in water, make the water more dense? When salt dissolves in water, it breaks down into ions, which are then attracted to water molecules. Due to this attraction, the amount of matter per unit volume—density—increases. Water now consists not only of hydrogen and oxygen molecules, but also sodium and chlorine (since salt consists of sodium and chlorine). Thus, salt water has more particles as compared to fresh water.