Bought a box of quail eggs for a recipe in late September, used about half, and found the rest at the back of the fridge tonight. The date on the carton was ten days ago. They have been in the fridge the whole time, never out on the counter.
I would rather not throw eighteen eggs away over a printed date if they are fine. How do people who actually keep quail decide this?
What matters more than the date is whether they have been in and out of the fridge. Consistently cold is the good case; moved between warm and cold repeatedly is the one to be careful with, because the condensation cycle is what gets bacteria through the shell.
Also bin anything with a cracked shell regardless of the date, and anything that feels slimy or looks powdery. Store them in the carton rather than loose, pointy end down, and not in the door, which swings in temperature more than anywhere else in the fridge.
They cook fast: roughly two to two and a half minutes soft, three and a half to four hard.
With older eggs, cook them properly through, whites and yolks firm, and leave the runny yolk idea for fresh ones. Skip raw entirely.
And be stricter than you would be for yourself if you are feeding children, anybody pregnant, older relatives or somebody with a weakened immune system. The ten-days-past egg that is fine for you is not a bet worth making for them. Hard-boiled ones keep about a week in the fridge once cooked.
@float_then_smell · 4d ago · 3 replies
Consistently refrigerated and ten days past is very likely fine. The dates on cartons are mostly best by or sell by, which is a quality judgement rather than a safety cutoff, and what declines first is how well the white holds its shape.
Two tests, in this order. Float them: sinks and lies flat is fresh, sinks but stands on end is older and worth cooking through, floats means a big air cell and most people bin those. Then crack each one into a separate small bowl, because the float test tells you age and your nose tells you the rest.
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@carton_at_the_back · 4d ago
Separate bowl for each of eighteen eggs seems excessive. Is one bowl for the lot not enough?
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@separate_bowl · 3d ago
One bad egg in a shared bowl ruins the whole bowl, and with eggs this small you will have cracked six before you smell it. The separate bowl is not fussiness, it is the thing that stops one egg costing you the batch.
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