Farm Dreams

Homesteading, Organic Gardening, How to Farm, Preparedness, Self-Reliance

How long are farm eggs good unrefrigerated?

We are selling fresh farm eggs to a few friends. I do not wash or refrigerate them. This has been a HUGE adjustment in mindset for my city friends. They are having such a hard time getting comfortable with room temperature eggs. I don't have the refrigerator space to keep a large amount of eggs cool and I really don't want to become an egg washer.

What do you do if you sell eggs?

How long do you keep unwashed fresh eggs without refrigeration?

When you do refrigerate, do you wash first?

How long are they OK in the outside laying boxes before being gathered? I realized this depends on climate but it is one question I received. We have mild weather right now so I responded "days if they are in a dry place." If it was August in Houston and I responded they might sit for a few hours before being gathered, I think my friends would not be OK with eating these eggs. No matter what, we are committed to being totally transparent and letting them decide. I just want to better education them with facts.

Thanks!

0 members like this

▶ Let's hear what YOU have to say about it! Reply below...

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Nick Duncan on March 16, 2012 at 11:30am

Kim,

I like your insight there. You are right that you do want to keep it as simple as possible. I will say one thing about the refrigeration issue though, and that is before refrigeration the small farmer of yesteryear did not save their eggs at room temp for days if not weeks. Some may have at times, but I would argue that if you look at food history and the relationship between food and readily available ingredients, you will see that eggs were almost always used immediately. For example, just in French cuisine, think of how many recipes revolve around eggs. Quiches, custards (both savory and sweet), soufflee's, meringues, pain perdue (french toast, uses eggs and day old bread), sauces like hollandaise and bernaise. Many of the classic recipes were developed because there were an abundance of these ingredients and precisely because there were no refrigeration, they needed to use the products as soon as possible. Notice that many of the foods above also have the milk or cream in it, that would have been gathered that day or the day before from the family cow.

I am not trying to tell anybody that not refrigerating their eggs is bad. I am just saying that you might scare off potential customers who don't have the same DIY homesteader mindset that you do. Again, if you are very small and you you only have a little bit of excess, then it doesn't really matter if anybody buys your eggs or not. If, however, you are using them as a revenue stream, don't scare off potential customers.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Kim Gates on March 16, 2012 at 11:36am

Nick...you made me hungery!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Nick Duncan on March 16, 2012 at 11:37am

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Kim Gates on March 16, 2012 at 11:40am

Kim Gates said:

Nick...you made me hungery!

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by J Green on March 16, 2012 at 1:04pm

Even out here in rural areas I have found that people have become so far away from their roots that they don't know anything about their food anymore than those who live an urban life. I've met women in their 50s who farm cattle but have never cut up a whole chicken and wouldn't know how to do so.

That distance from their food source has made people comfortable with so-called "food safety" that is approved by the USDA but one merely has to read about the last(and latest..there will be more) epidemic of salmonella in the commercial egg producers to know that the USDA's idea of safe isn't to be trusted.

A good film to watch is Food, Inc., for anyone wanting to know how safe the food supply is and for helping to educate others to the comparative safety of commercially produced agriculture products vs. home grown, local items.

Anyone eating their own products and feeding them to their own family are naturally more safe in their food handling than an impersonal system that employs people you don't know, who are working for a low wage in a horrible atmosphere~for humans and animals alike.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by J Green on March 17, 2012 at 4:11pm

You could read some of Joel Salatin's books....I don't like the man's arrogance and his greed but he has some great methods for pasture development and some common sense when it comes to marketing off the farm.