dealing with an egg surplus

My beautiful eggs!

A week ago my hens weren't laying - no surprise after such a cold spell of weather. I had a few cakes to bake for various cake sales so I bought a dozen eggs. The days are getting longer now, and a bit warmer; the hens have responded to the increased hours of daylight by going into egg overdrive with the result that I now have 15 eggs - and that's not including those used in pancakes on Shrove Tuesday,  the eight I used in a Spanish omelet at the weekend or the quantity of boiled eggs my girls have eaten. Luckily a boiled egg is a great treat for them!

I need to think of more ways to use them up. In the meantime it's important to store them properly. Always write the date on eggs - pencil is best for this. They shouldn't be stored in the fridge as they are too humid, an ordinary kitchen cupboard is best. If your eggs are a bit grubby it's tempting to wash them but you really shouldn't do this, getting the muck wet might allow bacteria to pass through the porous eggshell. If you must clean them them a wipe with a very slightly damp cloth is the best thing to do. Of course the best way of keeping the eggs clean is to make sure that the hens nest box is regularly cleaned and the straw or sawdust replaced. I find fresh eggs easily keep for a fortnight.

I use the freshest eggs for boiling, scrambling etc and the older eggs for baking. If you want to hardboil and peel eggs it's easier to use eggs that aren't completely fresh - they will be delicious but very difficult to peel as the white will be almost crumbly (in a wet sort of way!). The egg white gets much rubberier as the eggs get older.

I think I'll be making some cakes this week and maybe a Queen of Puddings - a really delicious eggy pudding! The hens seem to think spring is coming so maybe there is an end in sight to this long, cold winter. My five year old found a daisy flowering yesterday which she thought was a great 'sign of spring'.