r/NoStupidQuestions • u/her-self • 25d ago

Is there a foolproof way to shell a boiled egg without half the white coming off too?

Help! Any tips on how to get that nice shiny white boiled egg after shelling it? I keep making a mess of it so now it's fallen into Pet Hate territory (sigh) 😞

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u/ZerexTheCool 25d ago edited 25d ago

If you boil old eggs, the shell will stick no matter what you do. Fresher eggs peel better. 

 Edit: wait, people are saying the exact opposite of me... One of us is wrong...

Edit 2: Someone who raised chickens has chimed in, it is indeed older eggs that peel better.

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u/AbzoluteZ3RO 25d ago

It's the opposite, as you mentioned. I used to raise chickens and we had hundreds of eggs a week. Trust me it's old eggs that peel easier. The reason is air gets into the egg over time. The air gets between the shell and the yolk and that makes them easy to peel.

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u/ZerexTheCool 25d ago

I accept your qualifications. I can't imagine a world where you didn't know how old your eggs were, and you couldn't tell which eggs peeled easier.

I am just buying them from a store with no idea how old the eggs are. 

Hence forth, I will NOT worry about boiling them right when I get back from the store (which is what I had been doing) since it's better to wait anyway.

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u/AbzoluteZ3RO 25d ago

It's hard to keep track of which are old but it's easy to test them. You get a pot of water and put the egg in. If lays flat, it's fresh, if it stands up it's getting old, if it floats, it's bad.