Okay, farm fresh hard boiled egg eaters. How do you

hbrittingham

cook them? I have a neighbor who has some chickens and he dropped a couple of eggs off yesterday. If fixed them just like I do all my hard boiled eggs. When I peeled them this morning, I lost at least 1/3 of the whites because they stuck to the shell. I always peel them under cold running water. Only one thing was different from my store bought eggs, the eggs had literally just been picked up, so they were still warm when I put them in the water to boil them. Was that the issue?

Any suggestions would be welcomed. This neighbor has promised to keep me in eggs for as long as I like, which is awesome. But I will get very frustrated trying to peel them! LOL

KMSForLife

I've heard that you get a much better hard-boiled eggs if you use eggs that are at least 7 days old.

frosty73

Absolutely, the issue is the freshness of the eggs.
The older the eggs, the easier they are to peel from the shell.
Collect your neighbor's eggs and leave them in the fridge for about 2 weeks before boiling, it will make a huge difference!

hbrittingham

Awesome! Thank you. They were really tasty, just extremely ugly. LOL

amflautist

I always plunge the eggs into cold running water when they are done. I leave them there - water running long enough to keep them very cold - for at least 5 minutes. Never had any trouble peeling them after that. But I've never had the luxury of eggs so fresh they are warm. Maybe use those for a luscious omelette?

anzabeth

Yep. We have chickens. And there is no way to create pretty boiled eggs unless they are at least a couple of weeks old. Tasty but ugly pretty much describes it.

Temporalia

my mom used to have chickens and like everybody says fresh egg are not good for hard boiled eggs, they have to be older.

elly_bean83

i just copied and pasted a post I had written in response to another thread, give it a try, hope it helps!!!

"we have chickens also...the trick to hard boiling fresh eggs is to let the water boil before you put the eggs in - the hot water kind of shocks (for lack of better term) the egg into retracting from the shell = easier to peel! oh and also best to use room temperature eggs! cheers "

emilydmac

Boil them with a healthy pinch of baking soda- it helps the white not to adhere to the shell

Onesnap

Martha Stewart explains that if the egg is too fresh it will not peel well. You can wait a week or you can:
1. Bring to a boil in salted water
2. Remove from heat, put on a lid and set a timer for 12 minutes
3. After 12 minutes remove hot water from pan and add cold water
4. Peel and eat

I only eat farm fresh local eggs so I've found this method works best.

hbrittingham

Thanks for all the advice! I will just have to keep them in the fridge for a week or two, then.

I'll try a couple of the other suggestions, too. I usually run some cold water over them and then throw some ice into the water to cool them quickly.

I very rarely eat eggs any other way than hard boiled. But if I do, I'll use the fresher ones for that.

zdragonone

Put them into cold water just as soon as they are cooked. You might need to boil them a minute less too. Let them sit in the cold water until they are cooled off real well. They should peel okay.

I personally think fresh eggs are better scrambled or in omelettes.

erincampbell9

Bump

Sullivanwilson

We have chickens too. Even with the older eggs we sometimes still get the whites coming off with the shell.

Here's a trick that helps... when the eggs are done dump the water and put a lid on the pot, apparently the steam coming off the eggs help to separate the shell from the egg. There's no science behind that statement! It just seems to help.

bugtrain

Yep.....I have chickens as well .It's the freshness of the eggs! Fresh eggs are a nightmare to peel! What a great friend you have there!

AmyEm3

We have chickens and the fresh eggs are really hard to peel. I don't know a secret or trick to get the really fresh ones to peel easier. My dad says the same thing--and he's had chickens for his entire life.

shhelsea

Bang both ends on the counter, then peel.
I do this every time and it has never failed me, regardless of temp or age.

Krazyfit

Fresh eggs are easy to peel if you know how. I do have chickens and love hard boiled eggs. What I found works is to take them right off the heat and put them in the sink (in the pan still) and run very cold water over them for about seconds. Take the eggs and do a quick smack and roll, (to crack the shell) then put them back in the cold water for just a few more seconds, THEN PEEL. This works perfectly most every time. Good Luck!

macx2mommy

You can use the Eggies thing you can buy on tv. I got one at Walmart for just cooking egg whites, and it works pretty well.. If this is not a common occurrence for you to get such fresh eggs, it may not be worth to buy.

TamsinEllis

We have chickens (admittedly they lay eggs weirdly depending on the weather) and we also buy eggs (do a lot of baking) so what we tend to do is we have 2 sections for eggs in the fridge, closest to the door hinges we put the fresh, chicken from home eggs, and closest to where the door opens the shop bought ones, and as we use up the eggs and get new ones the chicken eggs from by the hinges will get moved over so they are closest to where to door opens and the new eggs will get put by the hinges, that way we never have rotten eggs in the fridge and the eggs that are closest to the door are always ready to be used for anything.

But on the subject of boiled eggs a) I'd leave them a few days (not a few weeks but that's me) and b) like someone else said after boiled them leave them to sit in a pan on cold water for 5 or so minutes until they are cold to touch.

megsmom2

pro cook here. they were too fresh. hardboiled eggs will work better with older eggs. use those nice fresh ones some other way....yum!

CharityEaton

we have chickens as well and go through a TON of eggs with myself and three munchkins eating one every day for breakfast!
We have the rotation system as well. One carton is "older" egss and one carton is freshest eggs.
I bake a ton so I end up buying store eggs every week as well. I save "our" eggs for scrambled eggs and use the store eggs for boiled eggs. Saves me headaches and the kids when they try to peel them.

My oldest loves making scrambled eggs with "chicken" eggs not store eggs. Cracks me up when they ask for "chicken" eggs.

llamalland

Fresh eggs are easy to peel if you know how. I do have chickens and love hard boiled eggs. What I found works is to take them right off the heat and put them in the sink (in the pan still) and run very cold water over them for about seconds. Take the eggs and do a quick smack and roll, (to crack the shell) then put them back in the cold water for just a few more seconds, THEN PEEL. This works perfectly most every time. Good Luck!

the above method usually works for me. After rolling the egg around the edge of the sink (any hard surface, but that's where I am since I'm running cold water on them) I let them sit in the cold water, even changing it as it warms, for several minutes.... not only helps them cook quickly, but providing your "smack and roll" perforated the "lining" (thin white layer between the shell and egg white), waiting will allow water to get between the lining and white. I also begin the peel on the rounded end. this is where the air pocket is, and it's easier to separate the lining from the white at that point. And it's true, the older the egg, the better it peels.... (when you have several dozen in the fridge, it's not hard to choose older ones for boiling, and fresher ones for fluffy omelets, scrambles and baking!)

Still, some eggs just won't peel too easily. I always boil a few more than I need, and if some need to be "pretty" it gives me better odds at achieving that! Overall, the quality is so much better, that "pretty" doesn't always matter.....

hbrittingham

My oldest loves making scrambled eggs with "chicken" eggs not store eggs. Cracks me up when they ask for "chicken" eggs.

That is too cute!

Thanks for all the ideas everyone! I'll try all of them until I hit on one that works for me.

AnninStPaul

cook them? I have a neighbor who has some chickens and he dropped a couple of eggs off yesterday. If fixed them just like I do all my hard boiled eggs. When I peeled them this morning, I lost at least 1/3 of the whites because they stuck to the shell. I always peel them under cold running water. Only one thing was different from my store bought eggs, the eggs had literally just been picked up, so they were still warm when I put them in the water to boil them. Was that the issue?

Any suggestions would be welcomed. This neighbor has promised to keep me in eggs for as long as I like, which is awesome. But I will get very frustrated trying to peel them! LOL

leave the raw eggs on the counter overnight, to age them before boiling

TrailRunner61

I've heard that you get a much better hard-boiled eggs if you use eggs that are at least 7 days old.

Yep, this. I used to have my own hens and I had to use older eggs or the shells always stuck.

mslack01

I have had that happen to me with store-bought eggs right after they were cooked. However, in that same batch of eggs, I left a couple in the fridge for two days after they were boiled and when I went to peel them, they peeled fine.

kellicruz1978

The only time I have trouble peeling eggs is when they are cold. I say, cook them and peel them right away. After mine are done boiling, I dump the boiling water out, put some cold water in the pan, then peel. If they are too hot to hold, I run them under cold water for a couple seconds, then peel.

dubord29

This how I have started to cook my HB eggs! I use farm fresh and it works great! I hope this link works.

http://momonamission.me/?p=649#url=http://momonamission.me/?p=649

jfinnivan

Roll the egg on the counter, cracking the shell, then peel under running water. Works for our fresh eggs.