# Hard-boiled eggs hard to peel!



## milkmaid

Our home-grown eggs are hard to peel after being boiled. Why are store-bought eggs so much easier, and can we make ours easier somehow?


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## freedomstarfarm

Thats funny I have the same issue. We just assumed it was another sign of healthy eggs. If someone has a trick would love to hear!


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## luvmyherd

Ironically, your eggs are too fresh. Store bought eggs sit around for a long time. :shocked: 
Let your eggs set at room temperature for a week or more before boiling them.


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## liz

Store bought are easy to peel because they are old...they sit around on those shelves for weeks and have enough dehydration going on to pull the membrane away from the shell....making them easy to peel.

Heres a trick I use at work, I have to boil over a dozen a day for salads etc.... Put cold eggs into cold water and bring up to a boil on med/high heat, let boil for 5 minutes then shut off heat and cover, let sit an additional 20 minutes. Drain them but leave them in the pot...roll around in the pot to break the shells and immediately run cold water over them...if you do this while the eggs are hot and you have the shell/membrane broke, the egg will contract from the cold water and slip right out of the shells.


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## freedomstarfarm

Too fresh! Isn't that great!! Thanks for the pointers!


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## milkmaid

Yes, thank you! I will try both of those suggestions!


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## dobe627

Yep what they said, fresher eggs are harder to peel


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## GotmygoatMTJ

I found that the brown eggs were harder to peel than the white eggs. But lately for some reason I can boil and peel 10 eggs that I just had gotten a day or two ago in less than 10 minutes! I used to fight and struggle for a good 30 minutes to get all the eggs peeled. So I have no clue. Hehe


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## toth boer goats

> Let your eggs set at room temperature for a week or more before boiling them.


I agree... the older eggs peel better...but... I really wouldn't recommend...leaving them out of the fridge for a long period of time... it may make you ill... as bacteria may grow....

What I do is.... lightly smack the egg ...on a counter...all the way around it and on top and bottom.... then.. hold the egg in your two hands and with the motion to warm up your hands ...do this all the way around the egg...including top and bottom....it will help loosen the shell from the egg... then....peel the top of the egg ...Then get a spoon and put it between the egg and shell ....then lightly pull the shell outward and it will peel from the egg...with minimal...denting of the white part....... :wink:


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## kelebek

We boil ours - then let them sit in water in the fridge until nice and cold then they peel right out ;-)


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## potentialfarm

As previously posted, it is absolutely that they are so fresh! How lucky are we?!?!  
Okay, it doesn't seem so lucky when you are trying to peel fresh eggs! Lol... We have found that if you let them sit in the fridge for at least 2 weeks, they peel easier. Also, they at this point, are still WAY fresher than the store! It gets easier when you're getting so many eggs that they are taking over your fridge, so then the "old" ones are prime candidates for egg salad, pickled eggs, etc. ~ just because they can be peeled.
I've also noticed that my Buff Orpington eggs peel easier (even when really fresh), than the Rhode Island Red eggs. Back to what GotmygoatMTJ said ~ the darker brown (especially smaller eggs) will make you swear when you try to peel them.  Okay, I didn't quote that properly! :wink:



liz said:


> Heres a trick I use at work, I have to boil over a dozen a day for salads etc.... Put cold eggs into cold water and bring up to a boil on med/high heat, let boil for 5 minutes then shut off heat and cover, let sit an additional 20 minutes. Drain them but leave them in the pot...roll around in the pot to break the shells and immediately run cold water over them...if you do this while the eggs are hot and you have the shell/membrane broke, the egg will contract from the cold water and slip right out of the shells.


 Liz, that helps a lot! I so the same, but when DH helps peel eggs, he's mad that I broke them all!!! Lol..oh well, I'm just glad that he's helping.


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## luvmyherd

I never refridgerate my eggs. But if it is a concern for you; I read this somewhere. Leave them in the 'fridge for 2 weeks then let them come up to room temperature before boiling. 
I have also used the spoon trick. It works pretty well but I still sometimes find myself swearing as an egg falls to pieces.
These are all great ideas. I will probably try some when I have no choice but to use fresh eggs. Actually, if I find one that works; I would rather use fresh. :doh:


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## nubians2

This is from an article of Mary Jane Farm magazine that gives a tip on hardboiling fresh eggs. She said to bring a little water to boil in the bottom of a pan and then put in a steamer basket for 20 minutes and then cool. Now, I have not tried it yet but I love hardboiled eggs and was excited to find a new possible trick. If anyone does try it and it works please let us know. I just haven't had a chance yet.


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## Chi Chi

We put a 1/2 cup of vinegar in the water with about a teaspoon of salt. Then we put them in very cold water after we are done boiling them. It works great!


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## JessaLynn

We hardboil eggs once a week and this is what we do....Let eggs sit on the couter for a few days..Poke a small hole at the big end of the eggs with a needle and cook like normal...cool in ice water...peel and enjoy! 
You can let fresh "clean" eggs sit on the counter for nearly a month and they will still be good.I've raised chickens for over 8yrs and we have experimented with it abit  Though each egg has different size pores it will greatly depend how long they will stay good regardless.Over time eggs pores open more each day allowing air and yes possibly bacteria leach in so it's wise to clean your eggs as soon as you bring them in the house. Store bought eggs are already a month old when the stores get them..that's why they only have a shelf life of a couple weeks (yuck) 
Tip:wood shavings in the nest boxes keeps eggs cleaner and less chances of them breaking


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## milkmaid

Wow, lots of interesting suggestions! I have tried several so far. I'll have to do some more experimenting. I think the main problem was that I wasn't cooking them long enough.


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## luvmyherd

But then if you cook them _too_ long; the yolks turn green. :shrug: That almost always happens to me. I cannot get the cooking time just right.
All this talk made me want hard boiled eggs so made some. The eggs were over a week old so I had no problems. But they sure were good. I like to have them handy so my husband can grab one on his way out the door.


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## PznIvyFarm

toth boer goats said:


> Let your eggs set at room temperature for a week or more before boiling them.
> 
> 
> 
> I agree... the older eggs peel better...but... I really wouldn't recommend...leaving them out of the fridge for a long period of time... it may make you ill... as bacteria may grow....
Click to expand...

I disagree. If you have unwashed eggs that are basically clean but still have their protective coating you can leave them out with no problem. We rarely refrigerated eggs when i was a kid and no one ever got sick. Collect eggs frequently and make sure the nesting material is clean and you may not have to wash them at all. (I do wash eggs for my customers and stick them in the fridge, but for us, we don't bother)

We usually use two week old eggs for hardboiling. Put them in pot of cold water, bring to boil, shut off and cover pot, let sit 10 minutes. Run under cold water for a bit to cool them, and peel. I find when they are fresher, brown eggs are the hardest to peel, the green ones will peel easily even when fresh.


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## luvmyherd

PznIvyFarm said:


> (I do wash eggs for my customers and stick them in the fridge, but for us, we don't bother)


Same here. Washing eggs actually lets bacteria in and refridgerating causes them to lose nutritional value. But if someone wants cold eggs, and most do, I give them cold eggs.
If I am going to be using them raw I do wash them well with something antibacterial but for cooking, well, they're being sterilzed anyway.


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## PznIvyFarm

luvmyherd said:


> If I am going to be using them raw I do wash them well with something antibacterial but for cooking, well, they're being sterilzed anyway.


I don't bother even then. I figure the more stuff my kids are exposed to, the healthier their immune systems will be. I keep my chicken pen clean, and it is not like the commercial places with animals living in filth. We do have antibacterial soap for when we are out and about , but at home we just have regular soap.

Interesting story - Several years ago, my neighbors got baby chicks from some hatchery. The two older kids washed their hands in the house after playing with them. The two younger kids used 'no water' antibacterial soap in the barn. They both got salmonella and doctor said it was b/c of that no water soap not doing a good enough job


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## Farmgirl675

Refrigerating eggs only started to increase shelf life so that eggs could be labeled fresh at 40 WEEKS!! I don't refrigerate my eggs and only wash if there is visible poop on them and then still no soap just hot water and a good rinse...leaves the protective coating intact.


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## luvmyherd

PznIvyFarm said:


> I don't bother even then. I figure the more stuff my kids are exposed to, the healthier their immune systems will be.


I am happy to hear this. Sounds like my daughter. In just a few years I have gone from commercial pasturized milk to organic pasturized milk to raw store bought milk and scrubbed eggs to raw fresh goat milk and fresh out of the chicken eggs. It is a process that I am happy others are doing as well. It takes some getting used to; especially when those around you act like you have lost your mind. 
I only use hand sanitizer in the barn as I have no hot running water (yet ray. I really hate that stuff and believe it does more harm than good in most cases. But if I get Smurt on my hands I feel I should clean them before moving to another animal.

We had a salmonella story. I was selling milk to a woman for her orphaned kids. Her daughter got salmonella and the doctor asked if she had been around any raw milk. When she told him they were bottle feeding baby goats he said, "That's what did it!" This was without any tests and the family raises fighting cocks. I lived in fear that the CDC was going to show up at my door for weeks. We drink our milk raw and nobody has gotten sick, ever.


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## PznIvyFarm

Good thing for handcleaning in the barn is unscented baby wipes - that is what i use to wipe their udders before milking. They usually dissolve most gunk on your hands pretty well (based on when my kids have gotten sticky over the years)

If you want something more heavy duty, those chlorox wipes are pretty good for sanitizing. I thought they were stupid at first, but now i keep them in the bathrooms for daily wipedowns on surfaces and esp during cold/flu season i have noticed a marked decrease in illness in my family.


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## milkmaid

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Eggs/BoiledEggs.htm

I found this page and it's quite interesting!


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## dobe627

I got the eggies seen on tv. After a few trial n errors they work great


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## Willow

The ...on the counter for 2 weeks ...thing doesn't work if you've got a rooster and therefore fertile eggs...therefore developing chick embryos.
:GAAH:


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## milkmaid

^Never even thought of that! Do the embryos grow even at room temp?


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## luvmyherd

We have never had chicks develop on the kitchen counter. And mine sometimes get left for several weeks. The most I have seen is a slightly bigger than usual fertile spot.


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## rfuess

Also, it may depend on the type of eggs. I have Ameraucana (blue) and Rhode Island Reds (brown). The fresh eggs from the Rhode Island are hard to peel, while the fresh ameraucana's are easy. I don't have a Leghorn... the type you normally see in stores - but they may be easy to peel. Not sure. Thanks for the tip on aging the eggs... now I can have larger batches of deviled eggs!


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## dobe627

Just an added fyi. I tried the trick floating around on face book. And it worked pretty well. Put eggs in a muffin tin(to keep from rolling) bake @ 350 for 25 mins put in ice water for about 30 minutes peel.


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## sbhministry

We refrigerate eggs only in the summer because the average temp is 98. We 
Put the eggs in a pan. Add cool tap water. Bring to a boil and time it for 8 minutes. Let it cool naturally. I peel while they are still wet. 90% are easy to peel. I do not age them. If you let them dry they are hard to peel.


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## mjs500doo

We salt the water, boil 7 minutes. Cool in ice water. Beautiful deviled eggs.


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