Influence of Storage Environment on Ease of Shell Removal from Hard-Cooked Eggs

A series of trials was conducted to evaluate the influence of altered storage environment of fresh eggs on ease of shell removal after hard cooking. Eggs were collected within either 6 or 24 hr of oviposition, stored for 24 hr under test conditions, hard cooked in boiling water, cooled in ice water, and peeled by hand. Ease and effectiveness of peeling were evaluated using a 1 to 3 scoring system where 1 = easy to peel and 3 = very difficult to peel, with resultant egg damage. Storing eggs in a closed environment with a 10% NaOH solution improved ease of peel when compared with a storage environment containing just air or water. The average peel score of eggs treated in the NaOH environment was 1.7 compared with scores of 2.4 in an air environment and 2.4 in an environment with water. The NaOH-treated environment increased albumen pH to 8.49 compared with 8.11 of eggs stored in the air environment. The influence of environment on egg albumen pH appeared to be the major factor contributing to improved ease of shell removal.