Saturday, March 2, 2013

Easier to Peel Hard-Boiled Eggs?

Hard-boiled eggs can be frustratingly difficult to peel, which is definitely infuriating if you want pretty deviled eggs.  One way to make hard-boiled eggs easier to peel is to use eggs that have been around a while, apparently the air pocket gets bigger and the egg loses a little moisture through the shell.  But if you've got a hankering for hard-boiled eggs and you've only got fresh eggs that you bought from the store that day, you need another trick up your sleeve.  So when I discovered a technique that claims to make fresh eggs that are hard-boiled easier to peel, I was interested. It's recommended to add 1 teaspoon baking soda to the water. 

What I Did

I followed the usual steps, putting the eggs into the pot, add cold water to cover the eggs, and then added a teaspoon of baking soda.  I only swished the water around to try to dissolve the baking soda since you can't really stir the eggs too vigorously, but maybe I should have left the eggs out to ensure the baking soda was really dissolved.  I don't know if it really worked well since the eggs seemed only moderately better to peel, but I will try it again since we make hard-boiled eggs fairly often in our house.  Plus the description says that the eggs need time to transfer the higher acidity level to the whites of the egg, so maybe they need another day or two of sitting around? 

So the next time you're going to make hard-boiled eggs, give it a shot to add some baking soda to the water.  It can't hurt and if it makes the eggs easier to peel, all the better. 

Wanna Chat?

I turned off the 'leave a comment' feature, so if you want to share what you're thinking about this or anything else, drop me an email at jhk1013 (at) gmail.com. It's so much more cozy than a comment, plus we can have a real conversation!