I attended Farm Camp this past weekend, an experience developed for food industry professionals by the folks behind Flying Pigs Farm in Shushan, NY.  My time there was profoundly life-changing, and is sure to be the subject of many a post here but, for starters, I wanted to share some egg freshness tips from Jen Small, one of the co-founders and farmers of Flying Pigs, that certainly came as news to me.  For example, I had no idea just how long a good quality egg would last under refrigeration (two months or so), or that the albumen (the white of the egg) is slightly cloudy for the first few hours after the egg is laid, and then eventually clears – a subject with which one is only concerned when making one’s breakfast out of very freshly laid eggs, as we had the great fortune of doing yesterday morning.  The eggs from Flying Pigs are always top notch thanks to the well-treated birds that are granted generous access to good quality feed and have plenty of room to roam around the rolling hills of Shushan to feast on bugs.  But, how do we always know for sure if our eggs are fresh?  There are a few checkpoints, according to Jen.  First and foremost, you can drop your eggs into a deep container of cold water – the very freshest ones will sink to the bottom and lay on their side.  But just because they float doesn’t necessarily mean they’re bad.  Older eggs will rise to the top because the air cell within them gets larger with age.  These are the eggs Jen chooses to hard boil, as the larger air space makes them easier to peel. 

Cracking the egg open will reveal much more about its freshness.  You’ll know right away by the smell (foul) if it’s turned.  Once out of the shell, the yolk of the raw egg should sit up straight in the whites.  The older the egg, the flatter and softer the yolk will be.  The thicker the whites, the better.  If the chalaza (stringy white bits on either side of the yolk that anchor it to the center of the egg) are in tact, you know your egg is very fresh as the chalaza will deteriorate with age.

Helpful tips, but I recommend always buying your eggs from Flying Pigs (available Fridays and Saturdays at the Union Square Greenmarket) or other local farms doing things the right way, as they’ll be gobbled up long before they have any chance of losing their freshness.