HERE IS A QUESTION MOSTLY FOR EASTER, BUT SINCE SUMMER IS COMING AND PARTYS AND PICNICS OCCUR - FOR THAT TOO! SINCE WE RAISE OUR OWN CHICKENS, MY WIFE WOULD LIKE TO KNOW HOW TO MAKE IT EASIER TO PEEL THE HARD-BOILED EGGS. WE'VE HEARD SEVERAL "SOLUTIONS" SUCH AS AFTER BOILING, RINSE IN COLD WATER AND SHAKE THE EGGS AROUND (THAT WON'T WORK FOR EASTER EGGS!), ADDING SALT TO THE WATER, SAVING UP EGGS AND USING THE OLDER ONES (WHATS THE USE OF RAISING CHICKENS FOR FRESH EGGS FOR THEN?), ETC. I'M SURE THAT SOME OF YOU EXPERTS KNOW WHAT TO DO, AND IT WOULD BE NICE TO HAND A LIST TO MY WIFE AND SHE CAN CHOOSE WHICH ONE SHE WOULD LIKE TO USE FOR THE UPCOMING EASTER EGGS! THANKS FOR ALL YOUR GREAT ADVICE, FELLOW COUNTRYSIDERS!

-- MICHAEL W. SMITH (KIRKLBB@PENN.COM), April 02, 2000

Answers

Hi Mike,

This is how i do mine... I got this out of a Countryside issue a few yrs back. first I boil the eggs for about 15 mins. then I drain and submerge in cold water... then i bring the egg water to a boil again.. I add the eggs and boil for another minute.. then I put them in ice cold water. To peel these eggs I knock on the big end first then the small.. then roll them and peel. You have to get this down and play with it but this is how I managed to get it to work for me. hope this helps.

Bernice

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), April 02, 2000.

Don't know if this works or not, but I have heard that if you pierce the end of the egg with a pin before boiling them, that it will make it easier to peel them. Can't hurt to try, right?

-- Tammy (btawilliams@juno.com), April 02, 2000.

I just run the newly hard-boiled eggs under cold water for a few minutes,give each one a good whack with a spoon, and peel the egg under running cold water...peels right off..no problem.Enjoy your Easter eggs!

-- Lesley Chasko (martchas@gateway.net), April 02, 2000.

For regular hard-boiled eggs the way that works best for me is to hardboil them with a little vinegar in the water and plunge them immediately into cold water so the temperature shock makes them easier to peel. This also often cracks them or puts hairline cracks in the shell, so this is obviously NOT when you want when coloring Easter eggs.

Not very helpful, but I asked around for you and everybody I asked just says they don't know of any way to make it easier to crack the colored Easter eggs when they are hard-boiled, but an alternative solucion is to blow the eggs out first while they are raw and use the eggs in cooking and then simply color the empty shell they way it's done with Pysanko.

-- Elizabeth Petofi (tengri@cstone.net), April 03, 2000.

i recently visited my cousin who owns a resterant. i brought her about 3 doz eggs from my chickens. mentioned that it would be difficult to use them for hardboiled because of the difficulty in peeling fresh eggs. an old waitress said to me to put salt in the water when boiling and that it works everytime. tried it, it works.have to use at least a teaspoon of salt, and day old eggs do better than eggs collected that day.i have always put the eggs that i have boiled right into cold water anyway, but the salt trick works. what a relief to use up eggs that get overwhelming, we love deviled eggs.

-- laura cavallari (ladygoat13@aol.com), April 03, 2000.

I used to have the same problem with trying to peel hard-boiled eggs. They kept tearing apart. Everyone had suggestions and most said it was due to using my fresh-out-of-the-chicken eggs. None of the suggestions worked well at all. Then I mentioned it to my mother who was raised on a dairy farm and had never heard of the problem due to "fresh eggs." Her answer works EVERY TIME!! Just boil your eggs for 12 minutes (that is 12 minutes after boiling starts), turn off the heat and let them sit in the hot water for about 30min. or so. (This is so they will finish cooking without getting overdone.) Drain the warm water and fill up your pot with cold water. Let them sit a while as you work around, allowing them to cool some. Drain them, leave them sitting in the pot and don't peel them until even the next day. They will be cold and will peel like a store-bought factory egg. The secret is letting them cool COMPLETELY. Hope this helps--it did for me.

-- Janie Dye (jdye_24088@yahoo.com), April 06, 2000.

This is from Nathan Griffith's "Husbandry." It works with eggs laid the same day, and you can peel them hot if you want.

"Bring the water to a raging boil (a little salt added to it will raise the boiling temperature, making this trick even more effective). Place an egg on a spoon and quickly lower it into the water, so there's no splash to burn you. Then wait a couple of seconds until the water is raging again and add the next egg the same way. Continue on until all your eggs have been added; not one will stick to the shell."

-- Laura Jensen (lrjensen@nwlink.com), April 06, 2000.

I've always peeled my eggs under water. I don't know if the water gets between and helps, or what, but so long as they are immersed, I've never had a problem with them breaking up.

-- Tracy (trimmer@westzone.com), April 26, 2000.

I found out about the difficulty in peeling fresh chicken eggs by accident. I thought I was an idiot who couldn't hard boil an egg. I will try the suggestions from this site. But here's a suggestion of what to do when you've already failed (as I have many times). Simply take a very sharp knife, like a butcher knife, and with one quick slicing motion, cut the egg (and shell) in half, and scoop out the egg with a tea spoon. This works really well and rarely gets shell into the egg. It's actually faster and easier than peeling them anyway when you're in a hurry. If you're careful, you can still use them for deviled eggs.

-- Ted Coombs (tedc@science.org), February 15, 2001.

My family boils the eggs, then run cold water over the eggs until cool enough to handle and then crack the big end and leave the eggs to soak until cool.Sticking a pin in the big end as mentioned earier lets the air out so there is no flat spot on the end,if you break the membrane the egg will leak out little white strings and I always check to see that I do break the membrane layer when I crack the shell so water can get in to lubricate removal.

-- Thumper (slrldr@aol.com), February 16, 2001.