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How to Tell If an Egg Is Still Fresh Enough to Eat

This article is written by a student writer from the Spoon University at Montclair chapter.

Have you ever looked at your week old, mainly empty egg carton, and wondered if the eggs are still edible or not? Well, here are two simple steps to test egg freshness that’ll tell you whether or not they’re still good to eat.  

Foods for swimming egg
Spoon University

Of course, we can all read those “sell by” dates so blatantly printed on our egg cartons, but they’re not always the gospel. More often than not, food can still be good after their labeled expiration dates. And often times, you can test the freshness of food through its appearance or smell. 

However, it is important to understand the health risks that can come from eating bad eggs. But you can tell the freshness of your egg without even cracking it open. Eggs are one of the healthiest foods you can eat, so you want to make sure yours haven’t gone bad.

Here’s eggsactly how:

Step 1

Put the egg in a clear bowl or glass of cool water.

expiration dates egg chicken
Jaime Cantor

Step 2

Look at it.

If it sinks to the bottom, then you’re golden! You definitely have an edible egg.

If the egg is on its side, then your eggs freshness is as good as it will ever be and perfect to eat. If it’s standing up on its smaller end, then the egg is still fresh, but it’s getting there, so eat it soon. Once it starts to float, especially if it’s floating at the surface of the water, it’s on its way to being no good. And once it reaches the top, toss it. 

Egg Is Still Fresh coffee milk
Stephanie Spivak

Use this trick if you want to tell whether an egg is good enough to eat before you crack it open. Happy Cooking!

Egg Is Still Fresh water
Spoon University

Need help separating that stubborn yolk from the egg whites? Check out this handy hack!

A lover. A lover of food, and a lover of talking. So talking about food? Seems like a fit. A good fit. The name's Spivak. Stephanie Spivak.