How To Clean & Store Fresh Eggs

It's exciting to find fresh eggs.  I'm still as pleased to see fresh eggs in the coop today as I was the first time my chicks grew into hens and laid eggs.  I didn't know what to do with these eggs, to they need specialized cleaning process?  No, they go through a very simple cleaning and are safe to eat.  I'll tell you how I clean and store my fresh eggs.

I enjoy going to the coop in the mornings and collecting eggs to bring to the kitchen.  I put them in a basket or tray only until I have a few minutes to properly clean and store the eggs. 

I use a dry paper towel and wipe the fresh eggs as clean as possible.  The paper towel is abrasive enough to remove most of the ordinary dust and dirt from the hen, the hay in the nesting box, or even muddy hen foot prints on the shells.  Most often this is how I clean fresh eggs.

Stubborn stains require a little more scrubbing, but not too hard.  I've put my thumb through a shell that wasn't cleaning up to my standards.  I was very disappointed.  I hold the eggs over my sink when I clean my eggs to make clean up easier. This is very rarely how I need to clean my fresh eggs.  Sometimes, it needs to be done.

I wet a bit of paper towel, and give the egg shell a little tougher scrubbing to remove a more stubborn spot.  The spot doesn't hurt your egg or anyone who wants to enjoy eating a freshly cooked egg.  I like the eggs to look as clean as possible, it's my personal preference.  I like to see my eggs clean and safely stored and look forward to cooking with them.

A very stubborn spot, I wet a paper towel, and set the spotted shell onto the wet paper towel, and I let the water soften the mark a little.  At this point, what ever mark I can rub off the egg shell is the most I'll get the egg shell clean.

Most importantly, I look for cracks in the egg shells.  Eggs can be damaged in the coop before I get to them.  Freezing cold winter mornings means the shells can freeze and crack.  A cracked shell will become a bad egg very quickly.  I let my hens eat that egg, I drop it into a metal bowl and let the egg break.  The hens enjoy the egg, yolk, white and shells. 

I store my eggs, after they are all completely dry, in a paper egg carton.  Egg cartons can be purchased on line and at your local feed store.  I started saving my egg cartons when I first bought chicks.  My family, neighbors, and friends have saved egg cartons for me and I have plenty.  My hens lay a lot of eggs, so I'm able to enjoy bringing boxes of eggs to people who have helped me by saving their egg boxes for me. 

I have lovely baskets and bowls.  The eggs piled into a basket is beautiful, and is a rustic farm house kitchen look.  Eggs piled into a basket or bowl, means I'm always taking out the last eggs that were added.  The first eggs could be in the bottom of the basket for a week, or even a month.  If the weight of the other eggs crack the bottom eggs, I'll have rotten eggs at the bottom of the basket.  I don't store all my eggs in a bowl or basket. 

After I clean and dry my fresh eggs, I store them in the egg cartons, and put them into the fridge.  I have a space where we always put the eggs, inside my refrigerator.  I put the newest boxes of eggs, under the older box of eggs, so my family and myself always use the eggs, oldest first. 

I always cook my eggs, so there isn't a worry about a bad egg being fed to my family.  I don't plan to prepare a raw egg, in an eggnog, steak tartar, or drink a raw egg like I've seen in a movie.  That's my personal opinion & choice. 

Check out some of my egg recipes for when you have eggs piling up.

How to Clean & Store Fresh Eggs