Hard Boiled Eggs left out

[tinchef]

My hubby says hard boiled eggs keep (unrefrigerated) for days. I think they should be kept chilled. Whenever I boil eggs we have this little thing going on where I find them sitting out on the counter... then I put them away in the fridge... then he brings them out again etc.etc.

At some point I get concerned about eating them. Just because they are in a shell doesn't protect them from the growth of bacteria... Does it?

 

[bert bakering]

put them in the fridge after cooked. raw you can keep them for a while out of the fridge...cooked NOT..you can get really sick!!!

 

[Andy M.]

Eggshells are porous. They are not an airtight effective barrier to bacteria.

 

[Nutritious]

put them in the fridge after cooked. raw you can keep them for a while out of the fridge...cooked NOT..you can get really sick!!!

i agree with you bert. we must be very careful in handling what we put into our mouth because it is very expensive to get sick.

 

[CharlieD]

Maybe to leave them over night, maybe. In the winter maybe, not even in the summer, but that's like paying Russian rulet. Like Bert said above you can leave raw eggs out, but not cooked.

 

[Michael in FtW]

Well, the food safety rules (FDA - Playing it Safe With Eggs) say they should not sit out at room temp for more than 2 hours. The unofficial not-so-safe rule of thumb is no more than 1 day if the temp is not above 80º F (if unpeeled and the shell is not cracked) - but like CharlieD said - you're playing Russian Roulette. Even properly refrigerated they are only safe for 4-5 days after cooking - raw and properly refrigerated 4-5 weeks.

 

[sear]

i thought pickled eggs are kept out of the fridge ?

 

[Michael in FtW]

They used to be ...

.
There are no home canning directions for pickled eggs. All of the following pickled egg recipes are for storage in the refrigerator. Pickled eggs should never be at room temperature except for serving time, when they should be limited to no more than 2 hours in the temperature danger zone of 40 to 140 degrees F.

Caution: Home pickled eggs stored at room temperature have caused botulism. For the report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), see Foodborne Botulism From Eating Home-Pickled Eggs --- Illinois, 1997 The Editorial Note in this report cautions against room temperature pickling and storage, also. The CDC further cautions that to reduce the risk for botulism when pickling, food items should be washed and cooked adequately, and utensils, containers, and other surfaces in contact with food, including cutting boards and hands, should be cleaned thoroughly with soap and warm water. Containers (e.g., jars and lids) in which pickling will occur should be sterilized (e.g., placed in boiling water for a prescribed period).

I don't know if there is a commercially prepared pickled egg that does not require refrigeration. That's something that I don't think I have ever seen in a grocery store ... well, not in the past 30-40 years at least.

 

[Claire]

I always keep my eggs in the fridge unless bringing them up to room temp for some particular application.

That said, in my younger days there were always pickled eggs in some taverns on the bar. Always looked unappealing to me, and I know they stayed longer than had to be safe, but many bars had huge jars of them. My mom, though, made them for Dad and kept them refrigerated.

We've also bought eggs from stands that definitely weren't refrigerated, but I'm pretty sure they were fresh from the nest.

Unless you live someplace where you only have a few feet of fridge space (and I know where you live, you aren't in some country where you're living with a tiny fridge), I can't see why you'd bother to try rather than chose "safe" over "sorry".

 

[tinchef]

Claire, as a matter of fact we have 2 refrigerators... and there is just the 2 of us. So there is abundant space to keep them chilled.

Thank you everyone for the info. I will speak to Hubby. Hopefully he will stop playing this little (dangerous) game with me.

 

[CookLikeJulia]

It's better to be in the safe side. Yes, I heard that it is not safe to leave hard boiled eggs at room temperature longer than two hours.