How Can You Tell If
Hard-cooked eggs, which have been quickly cooled and placed in the refrigerator in their shells should be consumed within seven days. Peeled hard-cooked eggs stored in the refrigerator should be consumed within 48 hours due to the moist egg white surface being exposed and the potential of microorganism growth.
Fortunately, you don't necessarily have to crack a boiled egg open to determine whether it's cooked enough. Just give the egg a quick spin over a flat surface: If your egg spins quickly, without any hiccups, it's done and has an entirely solid mass.
Hard-boiled eggs, peeled or unpeeled, are safe to eat up to seven days or one full week after they were cooked. To make sure they stay fresh, allow the cooked eggs cool a bit, and then store them in a sealed container in the refrigerator.
When you boil eggs, hydrogen sulphide - a toxic gas is released in the whites of the egg. This happens especially when you overboil the eggs. If you have noticed, overcooked eggs have a green coating on their yolk, which is a signal that you should not eat them.
Eggs can legally be sold up to a month after the sell-by date, after which they are indeed illegal but still very much edible for another two weeks or so, longer if they're hard-boiled and kept in the shell.
Visual signs like consistency and color can demonstrate the doneness of your food. Liquid in your eggs can also show that your eggs are still raw. Look around for clear, soupy areas in scrambled eggs or omelets. In over-easy, poached or basted eggs, you can examine the membrane between the yolk and white.
Overcooked hard-boiled eggs are safe to eat (in moderation) as they release a minimal amount of iron sulfide, which would be dangerous if consumed in excess. If an egg is overcooked, it'll develop a bluish-green tint around the yolk, but as long as it is fresh, it can be eaten safely.
Those funky, discolored rings in your hard-boiled eggs may make you wonder if they are harmful to eat. Fortunately, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) website clearly states the green or gray color in the eggs is “safe to consume.” So, if you happen to see a little ring around your egg, don't worry!
While it's been said that means the eggs have gone bad and should be thrown out, a floating egg does not necessarily equal a bad egg. Eggs have an air cell that becomes larger as the egg ages and acts as a buoyancy aid.
For one to four eggs, bring the water to a rolling boil, cover the pot, and turn the heat down to its lowest setting for 12-14 minutes. For five to eight eggs, cook for 15 to 18 minutes. For nine to one dozen eggs, cook for 20 minutes. After cooking, transfer the eggs to a bowl of ice water.
The yolks of medium-eggs should be just about solid, but moist, more like a custard than a hard-cooked egg. For hard-boiled eggs, remove after 8 minutes. The yolks of hard-boiled eggs are crumbly and bright yellow, completely solid, but with none of the grayish-green around the yolk that over-cooking yields.
Consuming an undercooked egg can make you sick.
The inside of eggs do sometimes carry salmonella. If that germ is there, it doesn't go away in a raw egg or even necessarily in a lightly cooked one, the CDC reports, which is why it's so important to cook your eggs properly.
A green ring on a hard-cooked yolk is the result of overcooking. The green color is caused by sulfur and iron compound reactions on the yolk surface. Hard-cooked eggs can also have black or brown spots on the albumen (egg white) from overcooking or burning.
The Centers for Disease Control estimates that 1 in every 20,000 eggs are contaminated with Salmonella. Persons infected with Salmonella may experience diarrhea, fever, abdominal cramps, headache, nausea and vomiting.
People who consume raw or undercooked eggs can get Salmonella infection, which doctors also call salmonellosis. According to the FDA, the symptoms of a Salmonella infection occur within 12 to 72 hours of eating contaminated food. People who have Salmonella infection may experience the following symptoms: diarrhea.
If you're wondering if it's safe to eat those eggs that've been left out at room temperature, you should know that hard-boiled eggs outside of the refrigerator won't last for more than two hours, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Gently drop one egg into the glass, and observe where it settles. If the egg sinks to the bottom and lays on its side, it should be fresh and ready to eat. If it floats all the way to the top, the egg may be spoiled.
It's best to store hard-boiled eggs with the shells on, as the outer layer serves as a protective barrier. Plus, they're easier to peel once they've chilled in the fridge for a while. It's a win-win! Transfer hard-boiled eggs to a bowl of cold water immediately after cooking to help them cool down faster.
Bring the water to a boil over medium heat. Then, set the timer and boil the eggs for 10 minutes. Depending on how soft you like your yolks how long to boil eggs can vary from 5 minutes to 12 minutes. The less time in the hot water, the less cooked the eggs will be.
If you boil an egg for five or 10 minutes, it becomes firm and cooked. If you boil it for hours, it becomes rubbery and overcooked.
As soon as the water begins to boil, turn off the heat and cover the pot. Leave the eggs in the hot water for anywhere from 10-12 minutes, depending on how you like your eggs. The 10-minute eggs will have vibrant, creamy yolks, while the 12-minute yolks will be paler and opaque, with a chalkier texture.