Live data from Hacker News

Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

nytimes.com

91–100 of 275 posts

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#92
post #85

My wife bought our chickens mainly on how pretty the basket of eggs would be on the counter. This is this weeks haul that we didn't eat - https://imgur.com/a/T9x4K . If you have the room, I highly recommend them as pets. They're quite cool and very low maintenance, and they make the best eggs you've ever had.

Embryos in fertilized eggs start developing at ~27 C ;)

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#93
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Refrigerated eggs poach fine; if they didn't, nobody in the US would have decent poached eggs. :)

Nobody in the cities or suburbs. Raising one's own chickens for eggs or getting eggs from friends with chickens is popular in rural areas.

I had an upstairs neighbor at my condo in Chicago raising chickens on the porch. When the association put a stop to it he moved them to the community garden next door.

That was the second chicken coop on our block.

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#94
post #92
post #85

My wife bought our chickens mainly on how pretty the basket of eggs would be on the counter. This is this weeks haul that we didn't eat - https://imgur.com/a/T9x4K . If you have the room, I highly recommend them as pets. They're quite cool and very low maintenance, and they make the best eggs you've ever had.

Embryos in fertilized eggs start developing at ~27 C ;)

Only if you have a rooster..

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#95
post #60

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.

San Francisco is quite walkable by American standards but certain areas are very lacking. For example the southeast portion of the city has a dearth of hospitals and the Tenderloin and Bayview neighborhoods have a startling lack of grocery stores.

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#96
post #85

My wife bought our chickens mainly on how pretty the basket of eggs would be on the counter. This is this weeks haul that we didn't eat - https://imgur.com/a/T9x4K . If you have the room, I highly recommend them as pets. They're quite cool and very low maintenance, and they make the best eggs you've ever had.

My parents considered it, but heard that they attract snakes. Also, what do you do with the eggs you don't eat?

if anything they attract foxes. I've never heard of having a non-transient issue with snakes.

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#97
post #83

Wait, this is seen as an American thing? Because I'm from the UK, and most people I know here store boxes of eggs in the fridge. That's how we've done it for decades, and that seems to be the 'norm' where I live. Certainly never seen any eggs laid out in a bowl on a table or worktop. Maybe it's a regional thing here? Edit: Just checked online a bit. Seems like it's a matter of individual opinion here, based on this G…

They may be kept in the fridge at home, but I don't recall ever seeing them refrigerated in a shop

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#98
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in the UK too... it's not that unusual to buy unrefigerated eggs with a use-by date of a month hence. You can leave them out, then hard boil them on that date, and they'll keep in the fridge for at least another week. I've always ended up eating them by that point though. (I generally buy duck eggs rather than chicken eggs, though. Don't know if they last longer.) FUN FACT: a couple of years ago I saw a Twitte…

As a side note on boiling eggs: older eggs are sometimes preferred for boiling because they're easier to peel, but if you're working with fresh eggs consider steaming them instead. Get the pan or steamer up to temperature, add eggs with a slotted spoon, cover, steam ~12 minutes, transfer to an ice bath to chill at least 5 minutes, peel. For extra large or jumbo eggs, probably add a minute. Adjust to taste for future…

Or get one of these egg cookers:

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Da...

They make perfect steamed eggs every time. Easy to peel too.

Re: Why Do Americans Refrigerate Their Eggs?

#100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not at all what I got from the article. I read it as saying basically that reasonable people can disagree about whether eggs should be washed and refrigerated, and there are good reasons for either position.

I would agree, I'm still puzzled tho, because vaccine works but is not used for economic reasons. So we Europeans, mostly don't vaccinate and don't refrigerate (let's forget the health care and say it's the cheapest), but in the US you're paying for an entire cold shipping infrastructure anyways, which doesn't strike me as "cheap".

> So we Europeans, mostly don't vaccinate

Likely varies across Europe. In the UK, 85% of eggs produced meet the Lion Mark standards, which includes mandatory Salmonella vaccination. Certainly appears effective:

> [T]he Food Standards Agency [...] in 2004 [...] tested more than 28,000 UK-produced eggs and no Salmonella was found inside any of them.

http://www.lioneggfarms.co.uk/information/british-lion-quali...

Post reply on HN