A Solution for an Age-Old Problem

Our laying hens have been donating fresh country eggs for as many years as I can shake a stick at.  We love those fresh eggs and collect them every day.

There is only one problem with a FRESH laid eggs.  They are very hard to peel.  Oh, you can peel them, but the eggs look horrible.  Why is this?  Well, a fresh egg's proteins bond to the membrane instead of each other.  When you boil them and peel them, the white sticks to the membrane just inside the shell, resulting in an ugly, pitted egg.  This means Tricia can't make pretty boiled eggs or deviled eggs for the ladies luncheon at church!  What to do!?!?

Turns out there's a solution that my wife learned that works!  Instead of boiling the eggs, you steam them.  What you're looking at below is a pot of boiling water in which a tray with holes in it (from our canner) is placed on top.  The boiling water beneath the tray STEAMS the eggs for about 15 - 20 minutes.

After that time, the eggs are submerged in cool water to cool them down.

Tricia then peels them under a stream of cool water.

Voila!  Perfect fresh peeled eggs without a flaw!

We were glad to learn the secret to this problem.  We've created workarounds by putting the eggs for boiling aside for "aging."  Once the eggs are a few weeks old, they peel better.  But with this process, we don't have to do that anymore.  How does this new process work?  I'm not sure, but I would guess that since the outer eggshells of the eggs are porous, the steam must work it's way inside the egg and release the bond of the proteins in the white from the membrane.  Just a guess.  Whatever it is, it works!