Eggcelent Surprise

Saturday evening on my way back to the house from youth group activities, Madre Inez says to me, “Take as many of the eggs as you want and then you can send the rest here.”  And I looked at her perplexed, “what eggs?”  Then I got back to our house and saw three huge trays of eggs on our counter.  Apparently that afternoon a Señora from our neighborhood showed up at the convent with a huge quantity of eggs for the Sisters and said specifically that three trays were for “that nice white couple I always see walking to mass.”  We knew that people were getting used to seeing us around the neighborhood but never expected something as nice as that!  We were very honored to be thought of, so wherever you are Señora, thank you for thinking of us!  German pancakes it is this week!

A note about eggs in Bolivia: in the market they are always sold in trays of 30 like this which are stacked very high and never refrigerated.  You say how many trays you want, they wrap a string around the trays and you carry them home. If you want less than a full tray, they put the eggs in a plastic bag for you.  Eggs are then put in a pantry of sorts, equally not refrigerated, until used.  There’s no way to know how old the eggs are when you buy them (although they seem fresh since they still have poop and feathers stuck to them).  We immediately refrigerate ours and wash them with antibacterial soap*, but still only keep them for a week or two.   I have also experienced my first ‘bad’ egg here.  It looked normal on the outside but I did notice an odor before I cracked it.  It was completely brown, green, rotten inside, so gross.  Oh well, gotta learn somehow.

* learned just water, no soap is best, thanks for the feedback Grandma and Terri Berg.

4 thoughts on “Eggcelent Surprise

  1. I think you are not supposed to wash an egg until you are ready to use it. You can brush off the poop, etc. but washing, especially with soap, removes the natural seal. You should be okay if you eat them soon but next time, don’t wash until you are ready to use them.
    Recipes used to recommend opening eggs individually before putting them into a recipe. I think that came from before eggs were candled. It is still a good idea even with our high tech egg production here in the states.
    Good luck with getting them all eaten!

  2. ditto what Alice said. we have chickens. the eggs have… a bloom? on the outside, which keeps bacteria out — until they are washed. we get our eggs straight from the chickens and put them directly into the refrigerator. then we crack them directly into the pan (although it would be wise to use the individual cup like Alice mentioned). Then I dispose of the shells, wash my hands, and resume cooking. It seems to me, though, that as long as we are fully cooking our eggs, it doesn’t really matter about the bacteria…???

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