Very fresh vs not so fresh eggs. A question for the bakers. Do you think there's a difference in

C

curious1

Well-known member
baked goods if the eggs are nearer the expiration date?

There's a gal with a cooking segment on one of our newscasts who was making muffins and she said that very fresh eggs make a big difference. I've never heard that before and wondered if anyone here has heard it or finds it to be true when making quick breads or cakes, etc.

 
She asks as she puts an egg with Jan 23 expiration date in some Date Nut Spice bread. smileys/smile.gif

 
Eggs keep for weeks past the sell by date. I think it only matters if

you are making something like divinity or egg white leavened cakes. You'll notice on older eggs that the white is thinner and does not stand up as high. For things like muffins I've never noticed a bit of difference. An omelet, maybe-muffins, especially something as strongly flavored as date-spice, I'd say no.

 
I agree. It makes a difference if eggs are the only thing, or the main thing giving structure to...

...the recipe.

Even if you did a CI comparison test on the muffins with eggs near the expiration date and eggs still warm from the chicken's backside, I doubt you'd see much difference in the end result.

Michael

 
I've heard in French cookbooks that older egg whites whip up higher.

I don't think older yolks have much to recommend them.

I agree with the others. If eggs are stored properly they are good past the "sell by" date. How was the Spice Bread?

 
Thanks all, kind of what I was thinking. This gal has given info that has me shouting at the TV at

times. I'd never heard this and wondered if there was something to it.

 
I yelled at a TV cook when she said: "I'm using white rice, but use any kind." Without

mentioning you might need to adjust the liquids OR the cooking time OR expect a different texture.

White rice? Is that long grain, short grain, Basmati, Jasmine, sweet rice, arborio, or Uncle Ben's parboiled rice? All will cook differently, all will produce a different grain and most will require a different amount of liquid.

Let's not even step in the culinary land mine that is "brown rice" and it's fiber-filled cousins bulgar, farro, and quinoa. Those will completely change the taste of the dish--often for the better, in my opinion.

TV COOKS: Please don't recommend swapping ingredients without letting your "students" understand the vagaries. That's how most people fail in the kitchen and why many people give up, believing they are the reason the dish didn't turn out right.

 
my daughter raised chickens

for a few years. All natural feed and we built them a luxury, hi-rise chicken coop.
The difference in the eggs from well cared for chickens, versus what you get at the store - including "organic" "free range" etc - is extraordinary IMHO.

The shells, the yolks, the overall quality including the structure i.e. thicker, firmer shell and you'll get a nice firm egg with a yolk that doesn't break at the slightest nudge and clear, firm, substantial whites. The size of yolk compared to white, vibrancy of the yolk (think bright sunny day) and of course, the flavor.

The difference to me is less about the expiration date than the source (and the stores play plenty of games with those dates). NY Times had an article a couple years back about how it is becoming increasingly popular for urbanites to raise chickens even in places like Brooklyn, hi-rise Manhattan apartments and other cities.

 
I wholeheartedly agree with you.

I have been getting fresh eggs from a couple different people who have chickens, and the eggs are wonderful. Some people are put off by the color of yolk, but I like it.

 
I knew a woman who told me when I mentioned how yellow my home-raised eggs were. . .

that she had been buying eggs from the store and she thought the ones with the dark yellow yolks were "funny" looking so she would throw them out!

 
We have chickens also, and during the summer when they do not get fresh greens to graze upon. . .

their eggs look just like the store bought, yolks pale yellow, whites not to firm, etc. BUT when they get fresh grass and greens and lots of leftovers/discards (from the kitchen), those eggs are really nice and the yolks are really yellow, bright yellow. And I always make sure that the hens have extra flaked oyster shell to eat as grit and their eggs have very strong shells.

Also, when my hens are not laying or when we happen to not have chickens, sometimes when I eat just eggs, they make me sick to my stomach; with the home-raised eggs, this rarely happens to me and they are very, very delicious, much more so than store-bought eggs I feel.

 
they're also good for

reducing the insect population. If you let them wander around, they'll spend the whole day eating bugs.

It's funny that we've all been so trained to think that the supermarket is "natural" while what really IS natural, has become foreign. Took me a while to not have some "willies" about eating our eggs but I knew it was irrational and overcame it.

Somehow we think that chickens who spend their entire lives in a cage they can barely fit into along with tens of thousands of others sharing the same fate, who are fed things that would make you cringe, and stuffed with antibiotics so their filthy living conditions don't cause a plague - are more natural and healthy...

No I have no axe to grind and am not a member of PETA. But it's just crazy.

 
We have chickens at one of the community gardens who are just starting to lay...

On Saturday we were turning the compost heap and while doing so we collected grubs and fed them to the birds. One of the new gardeners was horrified. It didn't help when I told her that the bugs went in one end as protein and came out the other as an egg. She vowed never to eat a non-grocery store egg again. I think she was only half kidding

The difference in the eggs is truly amazing. Everything Paul said about the size and nature of the yolk. And it is amazing how the chickens go for greens, especially chard. They must crave the calcium.

 
Now I'm craving date bread w/ orange-zest cream cheese. Curious1, could you please post the rec? smileys/smile.gif

 
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