Okay, my new morning burning question. Why do I put salt in the water when I am hard boiling my eggs. I have always done it, my mother did it and as far as I can remember so did my grandmother. But why, salt couldn't penetrate the shell, could it?
Hummmm

I don't know. I've been boiling them for 35+ years without it, my mother without it, my grammas without it....

no idea why you'd do that.

The only important thing is to put them into cold water to stop them from continuing to cook and to avoid the dark rings.

I only add salt to pasta water, not eggs

Okay USED TO

never did that either!!!!

and now, of course, what's pasta again?


I do add to veggies if boiling, but steaming I don't

My mom always said the salt keeps the shell from sticking to the egg. Then, I have heard one emerges the just boiled eggs immediately in cold water immediately to keep the eggs from sticking to the shell. I do both, just in case!

Ok, there are some sites out there that say it makes them easier to peel. Since I don't find them hard to peel without it, I don't get it.

Well, let me tell ya,the eggs I just boiled, with salt are sticking to the shell.
LOL, next time I'm conserving the salt

When we get fresh eggs, you cannot peel tham b/c the shells are strong and thick and seem to be attached to the whites, so you get those really lousy peel-jobs where you only end up w/ 1/2 an egg in the end!

They guy who sells them says you have to save a dozen eggs for a while, then when you HB them, they have 'aged' enough to use as HB and have them peel easy.

It's amazing how different the shells are comparing store bought with fresh.

We figure it is because the chickens' nutrition is better and they are not over producing, so their shells are thicker

Not to be like Lecture Guy or anything, but here's the story with boiling eggs.

Use older eggs. This is what makes them easy to peel. I always set some aside when I buy them. About a week is good.

Salt the water only if you are at a high altitude. Salt raises the boiling temperature of water which is lower if you are higher up.

Start with cold water, bring to a boil, boil till they are cooked as much as you want them. Starting with cold water helps with splitting shells in the pot.

Really cool them down quick, I use cold running water then ice. They cook for a long time after if you don't.

HTH

I have a new way of cooking HB eggs... my friend raves over them. I start with cold eggs in cold water. I put the heat on medium and let them go for about 20-30 minutes. I don't check them. Just drain and rinse with cold water.

Doesn't affect their peelability but the lower, slower cooking seems to make a nicer tasting egg. They never crack or smell sulferous.

My mum did that, too. I think she said it was to stop the eggs from cracking. But I have found over the years that as long as the water isn't boiling too enthusiastically, they won't crack.

Roz

I know that adding salt to the water lowers the boiling temperature. Maybe that's it?

Believe it raises the boiling point, but you'd have to add a lot of salt, more than normally added.

In salty water, Na+ and Cl- ions occupy some of the space between the water molecules. As temperature increases, although the water molecules are moving faster, there are less of them, so there are fewer collisions, less release of water vapor molecules and lower vapor pressure compared to pure water at the same temperature. It takes more energy (temperature) for the vapor pressure of salt water to reach and exceed atmospheric pressure and start to boil.

To raise the boiling point of one liter (34 ounces) of water by 1°C (1.8°F) requires about 58 grams (2 ounces) of salt. This is much more that the amount of salt typically added to boiling vegetables, which is done primarily for taste.

http://www.seed.slb.com/qa2/FAQView.cfm?ID=1112

The explanation is wrong, and commonly found in freshman texts, but the effect is correct. Vapor pressure of the solvent, water, is lowered due to increased entropy from the presence of the solute, salt. Therefore, it takes more energy, higher temperature, to increase the the vapor pressure of the solution to that of air pressure.