How to Tell if Eggs are Still Good

We've all done it. Discovered a forgotten carton of eggs, mid-cake bake or hungry for brunch and hoped they are still safe to eat.

Fortunately, there's a nifty trick that can determine how can you tell if the eggs are still good, and avoid a last minute dash to the shops.

All you need is a glass or bowl of water and you can reveal all about the age of your eggs in seconds.

After all, you'll need the freshest of eggs for poaching and frying while older eggs are more forgiving used in omelettes, scrambled eggs and baking. And eggs that have gone off, well, they're best disposed off swiftly without releasing their unwanted sulphurous odour.

How to Tell if Eggs are Good

• Fill a cup with cold water and drop in an egg. 
• If the egg sinks to the bottom and lays horizontal, it's still very fresh.
• If the egg sinks to the bottom but the fat end tilts up slightly - it's about a week old.
• If the egg sinks to the bottom but stands on its point, it's still good, but needs to be used soon - it's about three weeks old.
• If the egg floats to the top, and bobs along the surface of the waters it's stale and should be thrown out.

Why does the egg floating trick work?

All eggs have a tiny air sack between their shell and internal thin membrane. As eggs get older that air sack grows and the more buoyant the egg becomes in water revealing the age of the egg; in other words, the oldest eggs have the largest air pockets as revealed by the egg floating.

Run out of eggs? Try aquafaba, the vegan alternative.