Bethesda Farm pasture-raised hard-boiled eggs can be harder to peel than other eggs. The reason may surprise you… and some tips to make peeling easier.
The reason is that Bethesda Farm Eggs are considerably fresher than almost all other eggs that are available at your grocer. Because of this, the air cell between the shell and the egg white (albumen) is thin, making it difficult to easily separate the shell from the albumen.
Making Bethesda Farm Eggs Easier to Peel
Here are a few methods to make peeling our eggs easier after you hard-boil them:
- Add a little baking soda to the boiling water. The baking soda helps separate the albumen from the shell.
- Transfer the hot eggs to an ice water bath just after boiling. This will help the albumen and yolk shrink away from the calcium shell.
- Allow the eggs to sit in your refrigerator for a couple of weeks. This will give the air cell between the shell and the albumen to expand.
A Note on the Freshness of Bethesda Farm Eggs
The USDA requires that the Date of Packing be listed on the egg carton, not the date the eggs were laid. At Bethesda Farm, we pack our eggs into cartons within 24 hours after they are laid. So the Julian date on the carton (a three-digit number corresponding to the day of the year) is typically the same as the day the eggs were laid.
Most producers, on the other hand, wait to pack their eggs from two to as many as four weeks after the eggs were laid. So, the Julian date on their eggs can be almost a month after the eggs are laid.
This practice may make it easier to peel hard boiled eggs but at the expense of eating eggs less fresh than they should be.