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Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

nytimes.com

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Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#71

Post by iak8god »

sampo wrote: post #60
paulddraper wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's the non-car dependent folks that (good or bad) have "no option". I far prefer shopping for two or three weeks at a time, refrigerating fruits, vegetables, and milk.

> I think it's the non-car dependent folks that (good or bad) have "no option". In cities people typically have a grocery store within 5 to 10 minutes walk from home.

> In cities people typically have a grocery store within 5 to 10 minutes walk from home.

That really depends on the city, and on which part of the city one lives in: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_desert

Because I can afford to do so, I choose to live in a nice walkable neighborhood where I do have a grocery store within walking distance, but this is absolutely not the case in most poor urban neighborhoods, including many areas of my city.

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#72

Post by DanBC »

mastazi wrote: post #64

Please excuse me if my question is dumb, I've never been to the US so I might just be uninformed... I've noticed in movies and shows that eggs in the US usually have a white shell, whereas in other countries (at least the ones I have lived in, i.e. Europe, SE Asia and Australia) they are usually of a colour that I would describe as beige/light-brown. is that because of the washing process described in the article, or…

> or is it just because of the hen's breed?

The shell is the hen's breed - its genetic.

http://msue.anr.msu.edu/news/why_are_chicken_eggs_different_...

The yolk is the hen's food, often from additives that are chosen by the farmer to create the yolk colour they want.

http://blog.chickenwaterer.com/2013/03/influencing-egg-yolk-...

Here's an egg yolk colour chart. http://www.robotmation.co.jp/keiranycceng.htm

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#73

Post by fspm »

mastazi wrote: post #64

Please excuse me if my question is dumb, I've never been to the US so I might just be uninformed... I've noticed in movies and shows that eggs in the US usually have a white shell, whereas in other countries (at least the ones I have lived in, i.e. Europe, SE Asia and Australia) they are usually of a colour that I would describe as beige/light-brown. is that because of the washing process described in the article, or…

Egg color is actually a genetic characteristic. The most common layer of white eggs is the Leghorn Chicken, which is pretty common in American factory farming. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leghorn_chicken I think a big aspect is just that there is a cultural expectation of eggs being white in the US. 'Free range' and Organic brands often choose chickens that lay brown eggs though, as a way to distinguish their product and appear more 'natural'.

edit: auto correct.

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#74

Post by hbosch »

mastazi wrote: post #64

Please excuse me if my question is dumb, I've never been to the US so I might just be uninformed... I've noticed in movies and shows that eggs in the US usually have a white shell, whereas in other countries (at least the ones I have lived in, i.e. Europe, SE Asia and Australia) they are usually of a colour that I would describe as beige/light-brown. is that because of the washing process described in the article, or…

I don't know the history behind it, but yes, in America stores typically sell both white and brown eggs. Purely by anecdote, I notice that shoppers with a bent toward "organic" favor brown eggs for some reason. As far as I know they are the same in every essential regard, except the shell color.

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#75

Post by [deleted] »

mastazi wrote: post #64

Please excuse me if my question is dumb, I've never been to the US so I might just be uninformed... I've noticed in movies and shows that eggs in the US usually have a white shell, whereas in other countries (at least the ones I have lived in, i.e. Europe, SE Asia and Australia) they are usually of a colour that I would describe as beige/light-brown. is that because of the washing process described in the article, or…

[deleted]

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#76

Post by Pxtl »

DamnYuppie wrote: post #55
LordWinstanley wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in UK and never keep eggs the fridge. They easily keep for a couple of weeks or more. So I think the "use within a week" advice is over-cautious. Handy tip, if you want to know if an egg's good* or not, without breaking it: pop it in a tall glass of cold water. If it sinks, it's fine. If it floats it's gone off. [*'good' as in 'still fresh'. Unfortunately it won't tell you if it's full of salmonella, or not!]

Please keep in mind that the weather in the UK is nothing like the south, midwest, and southwest of the US. It is way hotter and far more humid.

Most middle-class Americans have air conditioning for that.

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#78

Post by csydas »

INTPenis wrote: post #39
tomca32 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm..weird. I'm from Croatia and I would be surprised to see people not refrigerate eggs. We (me and my family) always refrigerated them. Every fridge I've seen has egg holders that we would fill up. Pretty sure that most people I know refrigerate eggs, but then again, I never really paid attention to that.

Well my relatives are from the country, they have their own chickens. But yeah, like you say, even in Croatia most refrigerators are sold with egg holders.

Im a us expat living in Russia; eggs are sold nkn refrigerated but virtually everyone's home I've been to stores eggs in the refrigerator. The only time I haven't seen it was rural houses. I've known about this factoid for some time after reading an article om NPR about it, and I guess I always just assumed it was cultural assimilation happening. That is, we see people in US tv and movies do it, so we do it. I didn't know there was a difference in preparation prior to the article and most don't seem to either. So instead we just do what everyone else does.

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#79

Post by Pxtl »

paulddraper wrote: post #21
ricardobeat wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or just not buy them if they are not going to be used immediately. Eggs quickly lose their quality (try poaching a week-old or refrigerated egg). I understand this may be unrealistic for car-dependant US households that have no option but to shop in large batches...

I think it's the non-car dependent folks that (good or bad) have "no option". I far prefer shopping for two or three weeks at a time, refrigerating fruits, vegetables, and milk.

When I'm biking a lot I tend to make a small grocery store trio daily instead of a huge one weekly.

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#80

Post by neonnoodle »

mastazi wrote: post #64

Please excuse me if my question is dumb, I've never been to the US so I might just be uninformed... I've noticed in movies and shows that eggs in the US usually have a white shell, whereas in other countries (at least the ones I have lived in, i.e. Europe, SE Asia and Australia) they are usually of a colour that I would describe as beige/light-brown. is that because of the washing process described in the article, or…

This varies with region. Here in New England, more people prefer brown eggs. They come from brown chickens (like Rhode Island Reds). There's even an old advertising jingle that mostly older people remember, "Brown eggs are local eggs, and local eggs are fresh!"
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