Peeling
Hard-boiled eggs can vary widely in how easy it is to peel away the shells. In general, the fresher an egg before boiling, the more difficult it is to separate the shell cleanly from the egg white. As a fresh egg ages, it gradually loses both moisture and carbon dioxide through pores in the shell; as a consequence, the contents of the egg shrink and the pH of the albumen becomes more basic. Albumen with higher pH (more basic) is less likely to stick to the egg shell, while pockets of air develop in eggs that have lost significant amounts of moisture, also making eggs easier to peel. Adding baking soda to the boiling water can help make it easier to peel the eggs. Keeping the cooked eggs soaked in water helps the membrane under the egg shell moisturized for easy peeling. Peeling the egg under running water is another effective method of removing the shell.
Read more about this topic: Boiled Egg, Hard-boiled Eggs
Famous quotes containing the word peeling:
“It’s peeling now, age has got it,
a kind of cancer of the background
and also in the assorted features.
It’s like a rotten flag
or a vegetable from the refrigerator,
pocked with mold.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“And we may be led, then, upward through more
Powerful forms of poetry, past columns
With peeling posters on them, to the country of indifference.
Meanwhile if the swell diapasons, blooms
Unhappily and too soon, the little people are nonetheless real.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)