Did you know?

Perfectly boiled ~fresh~ eggs

Did you know that it is virtually impossible to have fresh from the farm boiled eggs that peel beautifully and have that fantastic yellow instead of what some call the "green halo"? Until you have tried to boil and peel a fresh egg, you probably don't. 

As many of you already know, we had eighteen hens before we moved up here from south Ga. My mom and dad took 10 of them and every time we have a visit together, they makes sure that they bring me as many as they can. Well, we were blessed with a visit this weekend as Keith had gone out of town. They were great company and helped so much. We probably would not have made it to church had they not been here. And, with them came several dozens of eggs.

Sometime last week my great friend, Brandy, had sent me a link to a blog explaining how to cook a perfectly boiled egg using fresh eggs. You see,  I have tried to do this. And, I have tried many ways. I end up losing half of the egg whites when I am peeling them and they are always ugly, although very edible, and I would be embarrassed to serve them to anyone whole. Until now.

Eggs from the grocery store are old. Sorry :( . They have sat long enough for the air to collect under those invisible holes in the shell and so when you boil them, it is the air that allows for any easier peel. The way you create that for a fresh egg is to gently prick a hole into each end of the shell. Don't penetrate all the way through. I used a thumbtack.

Then you gently place the eggs into water that has come to a soft boil. Simmer them for approx. 15 minutes. This will NOT be a hard boil. In the meantime, prepare a bowl of ice water. Once the eggs have finished softly "boiling" place them into the ice water for 5-10 minutes. The other recommendation was for 15. I experimented with 5, 10, and 15. I felt like 5-10 minutes would suffice. 15 minutes made them too cold for my liking. The ice bath is to stop the egg from continuing to cook so that it retains the beautiful yellow and not the "green halo".  Instead of gapped up, cratered, half-missing eggs, we have smooth and clean whole boiled eggs!

To me, this was a great find. Because, I will ~prayerfully~ search high and low for farm fresh (preferably organic) eggs to feed to my family. One day, maybe they will be from our own chickens again. We probably go through ~are you ready for this?~ 4 to 6 dozen eggs a week.....easy. We use a lot in baking, but we also have them for breakfast and as a snack. 

So, go out and find you some fresh eggs and give this a try. It is like magic. :)

Thankful that everyone but Mallory (one day maybe she will) loves eggs,

Nichole