Everyone knows where eggs come from, right? So, just by the nature of their existence, most folks feel that eggs need to be washed, and washed well. For the most part, I disagree. My disagreement stems from both personal opinion and documented fact. Myself and Hubby have been having quite an argument about this one as I'm quite happy to leave a bit of dirt on and put them out for sale, a bargain at £1 for half a dozen with the organic diet our hens have, who can complain at a bit of muck? whereas he was mortified, brought them all in and scrubbed them!
For the sake of education, here are several egg washing myths compared to the reasons why eggs really shouldn't be washed, don't really need to be washed and actually do better if they are not washed.
Myth 1 - Eggs must be refrigerated.Nope, they don't. The average egg, if left unwashed, can be stored on your kitchen worktop in a bowl for up to two weeks prior to having any obvious ageing effects. In fact, if you have any desire to successfully boil and peel a true farm fresh egg, you really should sit it on the counter at room temperature for several days. A truly fresh egg that is boiled will not peel, large chunks of the white will remain attached to the shell and the egg will be badly torn up. The reason for this is that the shell is porous and not airtight. Air is constantly transferring into the egg from outside the shell - this is what causes the white to separate from the shell, allowing the shell to be peeled away. More on this later.
Myth 2 - Eggs aren't "clean" until they are washed.Nope. When a chicken lays an egg, there is a microscopically thin membrane that covers the shell. This membrane is called "the bloom". The bloom actually blocks the pores that allow air and germs to transfer into an egg, causing ageing and possible contamination. Eventually, the bloom will wear away because of handling, etc, allowing air to transfer into the egg - and maybe some other stuff, too. Leaving an egg unwashed allows the bloom to do its job. If the bloom is powerful enough to seal a fertilised egg and allow a healthy, viable chick to grow inside, it is undoubtedly powerful enough to keep the egg "clean" for you.
Myth 3 - But, grocery store eggs are washed and they stay fresh longer.Nope, they really don't last longer. A refrigerated unwashed egg and refrigerated washed egg, from day one, do not age the same. Guess which one stays fresher longer? (I hope you knew to go with "unwashed" on this one.)
A little something that many folks don't know, but could deduce if they thought about it, is that the eggs in the shops are, generally speaking, not fresh. In this, I am speaking of large scale egg producing operations for the commercial market.
First, the egg is laid by a chicken. The egg is sorted, washed, graded, etc and generally packaged in large amounts to be properly packaged elsewhere then transported there... Some producers final package their eggs in house, most sell to another company that will brand and package the eggs. The initial process of inspection, etc, takes time on the scale of a day or so, depending on how many eggs are produced and how many employees are sorting eggs, etc. Now, regardless of how quickly the eggs may have been inspected, they have to wait for the lorry to come and pick them up. The haulage companies are scheduled in advance and may be arriving the next day, or maybe not for another week, again, this depends on the size and scale of the operation.
The eggs are now shipped, not to the grocery, but to a warehouse where, if they were unpackaged, they are now double checked (things break during delivery and of course, eggs are fragile), re-sorted and packaged. How long does this process take? Following this, we are again waiting on the truck that will be making delivery of the eggs. The truck comes and picks up the eggs.
The eggs are now taken to a distribution warehouse where they will be sorted into other trucks that should be taking them, and other perishable food goods, to their final destination. Here we are, waiting on the truck again. Oh, and these eggs, once on any of the trucks, could be heading for who knows where over who knows how many miles? Distribution on this scale is generally not localised, so we need to be calculating transit time on the various trucks, too.
Okay, so now the eggs have arrived at their final destination, they are offloaded and placed in the back of the cooler. Eggs aren't necessarily selling at the speed of light, so they may be in the cooler for a couple of days (or much more) until they make it to the consumer's home.
Saying that two weeks have passed since the chicken produced the egg and the egg was cracked into a frying pan is generally considered to be a conservative estimate. Yum, two week old eggs! These eggs are "good" only because consumers are told that they are and don't have much to compare them to. I promise, a two week old that has sat on my kitchen worktop, unwashed and unrefrigerated, is better and fresher than any commercial egg you pick up "fresh" from the local supermarket. Maybe that is to do with my hens being healthier in the first place but when my hens lay their eggs, they are dated in pencil with their "lay date" and sold from the house, "as they come" if it's me putting them out and scrubbed clean if my other half is doing it.
I'd like to know the opinions of other hen owners selling their eggs and also consumers. Any comments welcomed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Lincs Little Hens 
281 LOVELY TASTY EGGS FROM OUR HAPPY RETIRED COMMERCIAL HENS THIS MONTH
