Egg Storage

Long story short, my mum came to my house the other day and was horrified to see my tray of eggs in the cupboard. She was adamant that they should be in the fridge. My mum is barmy so I just ignored her rants. 

I've spokem to a couple of people since, and they are also adamant that eggs should be refrigerated. Really?

When everybody around you seems insane, it's time to look inwards. I still don't think eggs belong in the fridge, though. 

At no point in the existence of an egg does it end up refrigerated until the consumer buys them and takes them home. Supermarkets store them ambiently. Farm shops keep them outside. People have eaten eggs in every climate for thousands of years before the invention of refrigeration. So why to the egg holders exist in a fridge?

Where do you store your eggs?

Hey Phil, I happen to have the info you need from taking agriculture!

Fresh eggs right after collection (sometimes referred to as backyard eggs atleast here in the states) have a layer called a "bloom", this is a natural protection against bacteria such as salmonella.

Markets buy eggs that are processed which won't have this layer as it can have bacteria on it itself. To counteract the bloom being gone, they keep eggs refrigerated to continue to keep away harmful bacteria.

So If you buy eggs from a market, you'll want to keep them refrigerated to be safe, but If you have your own hens or purchase directly from a farm then you can leave them out without worry up to 2 weeks or a month and wash them yourself before using.

Edit for clarity: If where you buy from doesn't store them refrigerated, then it's likely the bloom is still intact, and you can leave them out. (Very common in the UK from a quick search)

Hope this helps!

Next to my stove. If I want to put my eggs into the fridge, I wash it with water and fruit soap first. I saw how chicken laying eggs. The eggs often got mixed with their poops. 

On the side.

I have no idea if the egg holders that come in UK fridges are just there because the US market needs to refridgerate them and it was easier to just include the same items regardless of end destination, or so you have somewhere to put hard boiled eggs to stay cold ready to use in sandwiches etc the next day.

But then I store my opened tomato sauce in the cupboard when the label clearly says to refridgerate it, so what do I know :)

In Denmark we only store eggs in fridges, also in supermarkets.

They may stay fresh longer, what do I know?

hey phil

in the uk we don’t wash off the bloom on eggs

this means they’re fine on your kitchen counter but i’ve found in heatwaves they can go off a bit fast in heatwaves