what makes the shell stick to the hard boiled egg?
brenda

do you mean in general, or why do some eggs seem to have 'stickier' shells than others?

the fresher the egg, the more the shell will stick to the egg white. I've understood that as the egg ages, the white gradually dehydrates & slowly separates from the shell. so fresher is not always better..............

i always buy Born 3 eggs, which seem to be fresher than most other commercial brands - sometimes half the egg gets tossed in the trash with the shell

that's exactly what i'm talking about!! i thought for sure it had something to do with how i was either cooking them or peeling them.
thanks!! now i know! any ideas on keeping more egg with the egg and not the shell?

It's joyful,
Try putting some salt in the water before boiling. This seems to help...a Martha Stewart tip from a very NON-Martha woman!
Sh'ra

you probably do this anyway, but crack & peel the egg under running water - it helps a lot.

when you have a really fresh egg, other than picking off miniscule pieces of shell at a time, there's not much you can do.

This always works (even when you let the eggs cook to long). As soon as the eggs are done (normally 7 min after they come to a boil) drain the water from the eggs, then fill the pot w/the eggs in it w/ cold water leave it under the faucet so it continues to fill with cold water (so the pot doesn't warm the water back up) After the pot and water are cold leave the eggs sit in the water until totally cold. Then peel. When you let the eggs cool down them selves in warm water or just open air. The membrane (the thin skin between the shell and the egg matter) attaches to the shell and when you peel of course you pull off egg with the shell.

i also plunge the eggs into cold water immediately after cooking & let them sit in the pot (filled with cold water) until they're cool.


unfortunately, this does not help with too-fresh eggs

you guys are so great!!
this was the biggest dilemma of my every so filled day. i do the cold water thing, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. i heard about the salt thing, but heard also that it may make the whites of the eggs more rubbery.
thanks again
brenda

Hi guys,
I have to agree with gecolon, if you run the pot of eggs under cold water, it makes them peelable. I learned this from my Mom, and it has always worked for me. I let it run for quite a while, and if I'm in a hurry I'll throw some ice cubes in the pot too. But as long as they get real cold, they aren't hard to peel... Victoria

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthre...0327#post190327

Everything you ever wanted to know about boiling, peeling, storing and eating eggs