Healthy Cooking Tips for Eggs

• When you buy eggs, always check the date and the grade. Grade AA eggs are the freshest, with the firmest yolks and the smallest air pockets. Also, examine the shells and don't buy ones with a crack in them. It you find them cracked in your fridge, discard them. There is no major nutritional difference between white eggs and brown eggs. The color of the shell has to do with camouflaging the egg from its natural predators.
• Store eggs in their carton and they protects them from cracking and absorbing odors or losing moisture. Place them on the refrigerator shelf and not on the door as it is colder on the shelves. For longer storage, keep the carton inverted so that the large, bulbous end is on the top. This way, there is a greater distance between the air bubble between the yolk and the egg whites. Also, eggs must be covered when refrigerated to prevent a loss of moisture from the dry, refrigerated air.
• You can judge the age and health of the egg by dropping it in a body of water. A fresh egg will sink and lie flat on the bottom of the glass, slightly older will bob a little bit, still older will stand on the end and a rotten egg will float on the surface! Fresh eggs' shells are rough and chalky while old eggs' shells are smooth and shiny.
• Eggs can harbor salmonella. As with meat, always be scrupulously clean when working with raw eggs. Wash well with hot water and antibacterial soap anything that touched the egg: your hands, pots, dishes, utensils, the counter, etc.
• Wet your fingers before handling whole raw eggs. It will give you a good grip and you are less likely to drop them and making a mess.
• Always crack eggs in a separate container and then mix them into the dish. In case the egg is rotten, you can detect it and not spoil the recipe.
• If an egg breaks on the floor, sprinkle it heavily with salt and let stand for about 15 minutes. The salt sucks up the egg protein and it will be easier to clean up.
• While whipping egg whites, make sure the bowl is clean and free from grease or oil as they prevent whites from rising. Make sure that all the yolk has been completely removed.
• You can prevent omelettes from toughening up by making sure that the eggs are at room temperature and the pan is well heated. The lesser time they take to cook, the softer the omelette.
• Brown eggs have thicker shells and make good hard boiled eggs. Older eggs have more air in them and are also good for boiling.
• Fresh eggs are better when poached or fried - the fresher the egg, the better it will hold the shape.
• After boiling the eggs, run them under water. You will be able to remove the shell easily.
• Break eggs on a flat surface, the shell breaks in large pieces. When you break on the edge of a bowl, it causes small pieces of the shell to fall in.
• You can make fluffier scrambled eggs by adding a little water before cooking.
• The green stuff in a hard cooked egg is unattractive, but harmless. It is caused by a chemical reaction between the iron in the egg yolk and the sulfur in the white. You can prevent it by cooking eggs in simmering water rather than water at full boil and also plunging the eggs in cold water after they have been boiled to stop further cooking.
• Try spinning it. If it wobbles, the egg is raw, if it spins, it is cooked. Some people can also tell the difference between raw egg and cooked egg by smelling it.
• Use the cooled, cooking water from boiled eggs to water plants. The minerals that leached into the water from the egg shells make a very nutritious fertilizer. Powder the shells and use them to fertilize plants.