# Egg (white) not setting



## hardya (Sep 15, 2012)

We have made hundreds of omelettes, fried eggs, scrambled egg etc, no bother.

Lately we have a had run of particular eggs (same farm/distributor) and cooking an omelette the egg (mostly the white I think) just won't set it remains permanently watery.  Tried to make a fried egg with same batch and the white simply would not set properly!

I have read that when raw if the yoke is flat and the white is very watery the egg is bad, but the egg did not really smell bad and was in date by about 2 weeks.  Is this perhaps just a quality issue or could the egg be older than implied by the date printed on it?

Any thoughts appreciated.


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## Andy M. (Sep 15, 2012)

Flat yolks and more liquidy whites means older eggs, not necessarily bad eggs.  

How long did you leave them on the burner?  They NEVER cooked?


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## hardya (Sep 15, 2012)

"I have read that..."  

" when raw if the yoke is flat and the white is very watery the egg is bad"

to be fair I didn't really make that specific check it was just the connection I made regarding wateryness.

Cooked far longer than would normally (not sure exact time), then gave up.  May be they would have set / congealed eventually.


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## Addie (Sep 15, 2012)

My bet is that the eggs are older than stated on the carton.


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## Andy M. (Sep 15, 2012)

Read this website on albumin (egg white).  Lots of other good egg info.

Incredible Edible Egg | Eggs | albumen


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## PhilinYuma (Sep 18, 2012)

There is an old test (older than I, so it's pretty old) for testing eggs to see if they are fresh, old or somewhere in between. Just put the egg in a bowl of RT water. If it is very fresh it will float on its side in the water. A little older and it will turn on end and gradually start sitting lower in the water, the older it gets. If the egg sinks until it touches the bottom, throw it away.
When I was a kid, we would go egg hunting on the neighboring farm and usually have no idea when the eggs we found had been laid, so this was an invaluable test.


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## taxlady (Sep 19, 2012)

PhilinYuma said:


> There is an old test (older than I, so it's pretty old) for testing eggs to see if they are fresh, old or somewhere in between. Just put the egg in a bowl of RT water. If it is very fresh it will float on its side in the water. A little older and it will turn on end and gradually start sitting lower in the water, the older it gets. If the egg sinks until it touches the bottom, throw it away.
> When I was a kid, we would go egg hunting on the neighboring farm and usually have no idea when the eggs we found had been laid, so this was an invaluable test.


I think that your test is backwards. If it is fresh, it will lie flat on the bottom. If it floats, it is bad. This is what I remember and what a number of sites say from a Google search.


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## TATTRAT (Sep 19, 2012)

taxlady said:


> I think that your test is backwards. If it is fresh, it will lie flat on the bottom. If it floats, it is bad. This is what I remember and what a number of sites say from a Google search.



You are right, as an egg ages, more air gets through to it, and through some sort of process(I know it isn't osmosis), it takes in more air, so it will float higher.

Ok to eat, it's not gonna make you die a thousand deaths, it's just not as fresh as it could be.


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## Andy M. (Sep 19, 2012)

Older eggs float.


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## Addie (Sep 19, 2012)

TATTRAT said:


> You are right, as an egg ages, more air gets through to it, and through some sort of process(I know it isn't osmosis), it takes in more air, so it will float higher.
> 
> Ok to eat, it's not gonna make you die a thousand deaths, it's just not as fresh as it could be.


 
And the reason is very simple. The shell is porous, thus the water in the white evaporates and more air replaces the water. Simple science. So the egg floats as the egg gets older. Older eggs are easier to peel. Great for egg salad and devil eggs. Just don't boil them hard. To make perfect hard boiled eggs without that nasty sulpher green circle surrounding the yolk, bring eggs to a boil. Remove from heat immediately and allow eggs to sit in hot water for 20 minutes.


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## Oldvine (Sep 19, 2012)

If I'm in doubt, I do the egg float test.  If the thing floats, out it goes.


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## Andy M. (Sep 19, 2012)

Oldvine said:


> If I'm in doubt, I do the egg float test.  If the thing floats, out it goes.




Floating eggs are older not necessarily spoiled.  They are most likely still perfectly fine to cook and eat.  Crack it open and smell it.  If it stinks, toss it.  If it smells like an egg, eat it.


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## taxlady (Sep 19, 2012)

Andy M. said:


> Floating eggs are older not necessarily spoiled.  They are most likely still perfectly fine to cook and eat.  Crack it open and smell it.  If it stinks, toss it.  If it smells like an egg, eat it.


+1


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## PhilinYuma (Sep 19, 2012)

Andy M. said:


> Older eggs float.


Yes, of course. I don't know how I reversed "fresh" and "old", but I did, though I did leave the computer for a minute, and my dog is looking pretty guilty right now.


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## taxlady (Sep 19, 2012)

PhilinYuma said:


> Yes, of course. I don't know how I reversed "fresh" and "old", but I did, though I did leave the computer for a minute, and my dog is looking pretty guilty right now.


 Them critters...


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## Andy M. (Sep 19, 2012)

PhilinYuma said:


> Yes, of course. I don't know how I reversed "fresh" and "old", but I did, though I did leave the computer for a minute, and my dog is looking pretty guilty right now.



I've used that excuse too.


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## TATTRAT (Sep 20, 2012)

PhilinYuma said:


> Yes, of course. I don't know how I reversed "fresh" and "old", but I did, though I did leave the computer for a minute, and my dog is looking pretty guilty right now.



LMAO! Awesome!


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## CWS4322 (Sep 20, 2012)

If you forget eggs in the fridge, because of the evaporation process through the porous shell, the egg will most likely dry out, not spoil. Because store-bought eggs are washed, the bloom is not on the shell when you buy them. This allows the moisture to evaporate through the porous shell. Left unwashed, the bloom seals the egg shell. I don't wash my eggs until I'm about to use them. I also keep unwashed eggs in a cool spot. They only need to be put in the fridge if the bloom has been washed off.

The reason older eggs peel easier is because some of the moisture has left the egg and the film that is between the white and the shell has separated somewhat from the shell. If you hb a fresh egg (same day as laid), it is a pain to peel and there is little or no air pocket--it is all egg, no hollow spot in the shell.


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## taxlady (Sep 20, 2012)

The drying out. Now I remember why the experts say to leave your store bought eggs in the carton, not in the egg tray.


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