Are You An Egghead Or An Empty Shell

Now that Easter Sunday is over and I hope everyone had a nice day eating easter eggs, going on egg hunts, and just about everything else you can think of that involves an egg, except for those thoughts that are only kept in the bedroom eggs I figure you would know everything there is to know about eggs, correct?

How well do you know your yolks from your whites. Do you know if an egg can float, sink, or stand in a pan of water? Take this simple quiz from Uncle John's Bathroom Reader, by the Bathroom Reader's Institute.

I will post the answers in a day or two, this should give you all ample time to scramble your brain while you figure out how the crack this test. No pund intended.

Question 1. Without breaking it open, how can you tell if an egg is fresh?

a) Carefully feel the shell and if it has soft spots the egg is rotten.
b) Hold the egg up to your ear and shake it. If you hear the yolk sloshing around inside, the egg is still fresh. A silent egg is rotten
c) Drop the egg in a glass of water. If it sinks to the bottom and lies on its side, its fresh. If it sinks to the bottom and stands on one end, it's old but probably still edible. If it floats, it's rotten.

Question 2. Which part of the egg is known as the, "chalaze"?

a) The pretective coating on the outside of the shell.
b) The membrane separating the yolk from the white.
c) The thin strands of egg white that connect the yolk to the shell.

Question 3. What's the difference between Grade A and Grade AA eggs?

a) Grade AA egg contain twice as much vitamin A, because the hens get a diet of fortified chicken feed.
b) Grade AA eggs have plumper yolks and thicker whites.
c) Grade AA hens, also known as "yearlings" or "freshman" hets, are younger and healthier than the hends that lay Grade A eggs.

Question 4. What's the best way to store an egg in the refrigerator?

a) With the tapered end pointing up.
b) With the tapered end pointing down.
c) Neither - eggs keep best when they're lying on their side.

Question 5. (Final Question) Without breaking it open, how can you tell if an egg is cooked?

a) Spin it on a flat surface - raw eggs wobble, cooked ones don't.
b) Hole it up to a bright light - eggshells that have been cooked for seven minutes or longer are slightly transparent.
c) Carefully examine the shell - it's physically impossible to boil an egg without cracking the shell in at least one place.

Good luck and Happy Eggstravaganza

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1 - c) Egg shells are porous - as an egg ages, moisture excapes and is replaced by outside air, causing it to become more buoyant over time. Fresh eggs contain the least air and sit right at the bottom of the glass; older eggs are lighter and tend to "stand" at the bottom. Rotten eggs contain so much air that they float right to the top.

2 - c) Also known as "chalazae cords," these strands connect the yolk to the ends of the eggshell; the resulting tug-of-war" helps to reduce movement and keep the yolk centered inside the egg.

3 - b) Grade A and AA are the Food and Drug Administration's two highest egg classifications. They have nothing to do with the size, freshness, or vitamin content of the egg - they indicate the quality of the egg white and yolk. Grade AA eggs, slightly higher in quality, have the plumpest yolks and the thickest whites.

4 - b) There's a pocket of air in the larger end of the egg and it's the most likely source of contaimination from foreign bacteria. Storing the egg with the tapered end pointing down causes the yolk - which is more perishable that the white - to settle toward the tapered end, as far away from the air pocket as possible. When the egg is stored with the tapered end up, the yolk can settle right on top of the pocket, potentially speeding the rate at which the egg will spoil.

5 - a) Raw wggs wobble because the white and yolk are still fluid and move around inside the egg when you spin it. Cooked eggs are at least partially solidified and have a much smoother spin.

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