Could there possibly be a problem with having eggs so fresh they were warm when you collected them?

Well, yes.  But only one.

I hadn’t eaten a hard boiled egg in two years.  Why?  The air cell that makes it possible to peel a boiled egg is so small in a fresh egg that I couldn’t get the shell off the membrane.  Peeling a two day old egg is more like peeling an apple than removing a shell.  I needed a paring knife.

Several people had recommended steaming as a solution, so I finally decided to try it.  I found this recipe from One Good Thing by Jillee.  She does a good job of explaining why it works.

I only had one problem left to solve.  I don’t have a steamer!  Here is what I did…

I got out three canning jar rings.  I must have 300 of these in a bag in the pantry from all the canning.

I also got out some cheesecloth.

I found a pot the right size for the three eggs I wanted to steam and put the rings on the bottom.

This will hold the eggs out of the water.

I put a little water in with the rings and put the cheesecloth over them.  The egg fell through the rings into the water otherwise.

The egg is safely held above the water.

I steamed them for 15 minutes, just as Jillee says.  I dropped them in cold water for a few minutes and set out to peel them.

It worked!!  I didn’t have to get out my paring knife and I was finally able to confirm that a fresh hard-cooked egg is just as good as I thought it would be!

© 2013 Hungry Chicken Homestead

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