Eggs are a point of controversy in many homes when it comes to choosing where to store them, and with so much conflicting advice it can be hard to find the right answer. However, according to a farmer who shares his agricultural life on TikTok, the main thing to consider is the position of your eggs in their case. In a video shared on his widely followed profile, Noah Young revealed that all eggs should be stored with the pointed end facing a certain way.
Noah (@theshilohfarm) explained that the lesser-known trick means the majority of people have been storing their eggs “all wrong” for years, adding that the pointed tip is the crucial thing to look for when putting eggs away in your fridge – or on the counter.
He said: “Every egg has a pointy end and a blunt end and that blunt end actually has something called an air cell.
“This air cell actually acts as a buffer, keeping bacteria like salmonella away from the yolk.”
Storing each individual egg with the pointed end down, and blunt, rounded side helps to keep the yolk centred, but it’s not the only benefit.
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When it comes to storing your eggs at home, the Food Standards Agency recommended storing them whole in a cool dry place, “ideally in the fridge”, until you use them.
Of course, they should be stored with the pointed end up to minimise the risk of bacteria, though this will only be effective if your eggs are fresh in the first place.
To check the freshness of your eggs, you can use the float test using just one bowl of room-temperature water
This is incredibly easy to do and can determine whether your eggs are fresh, one week old, stale or “very old”.
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Fill a glass bowl with tap water and leave it at room temperature for 15 minutes to accurately determine the age of the produce.
Carefully drop one egg into the bowl at a time. If it sinks on its side, the egg is fresh and can be safely stored in your fridge for two to three weeks.
Eggs that are one week old will also sink, though they will land with the pointed tip-tilted upwards while still slightly on their side.
Stale eggs should sink to the bottom with one point clearly facing upwards, and very old produce will float to the top.
If like Noah, you rely on eggs produced by animals at a local farm or in your own garden, you can safely store them for up to six weeks in the fridge after washing them.
The Nebraskan farmer added that alternatively, you can keep unwashed produce on the counter for up to four weeks.
The reason that “bad” eggs float is that the moisture inside each one evaporates through the shell as they age. As this decreases, the air bubble inside – that farmer Noah pointed out should grow.
One way to test this without a bowl of water is to gently grip the egg near your ear and shake it. If you hear the liquid moving around inside the shell, it is a bad sign that your eggs have gone off. However, if you are unsure, you should use the float trick to determine the exact age.
