05/22/2026
The two year old egg:
Tuesday night we ate dinner with a two-year-old egg.
Now, we didn’t actually eat the egg for dinner… but in another time and place, we probably could have.
Two years ago, Asa gathered a bucket of clean, uncracked eggs and set them in the garage as an experiment to see how long eggs truly last. The garage isn’t climate-controlled, so the eggs experienced both summer heat and winter cold.
You can read our one-year update here:
At 30 and 60 days, we tested and ate the eggs without issue. By 90 days, they were getting thicker in texture from the heat, but still usable. Honestly, refrigerated unwashed eggs at 90 days are often comparable to many store-bought eggs.
A little secret from the food system: grocery store eggs are often far older than people realize by the time they reach your refrigerator.
After that 90-day mark, life got busy, and we forgot about the bucket for a while.
After one year, the eggs were mostly dried out but showed no smell or signs of spoilage. Last night, at the two-year mark, we found much the same thing — dried and brittle, but not rotten. In fact, at Easter, the Farmhands and their cousins used some of them for “egg fights.”
This experiment speaks to the power of the bloom on unwashed eggs.
When a hen lays an egg, she coats it with a natural protective layer called the bloom or cuticle. That bloom seals the shell, helps prevent bacteria from entering the egg, and slows moisture loss. Washing removes that protective barrier.
Ironically, many of the industrial systems designed to make food feel “safe” actually strip away some of the natural protections built into it. Commercial egg washing became necessary because eggs are produced, transported, and stored in massive centralized systems where uniformity matters more than the egg's natural function.
Once the bloom is removed, eggs must be refrigerated continuously because the shell becomes more porous and vulnerable.
With smaller flocks, where eggs are gathered daily and handled carefully, keeping the bloom intact often makes far more sense. Now with the rollaway nesting boxes, the eggs are being gathered clean, even on muddy pasture days.
At this point, I think the experiment is complete. We’ll probably save the bucket for another round of kids’ games and reclaim the shelf space.
Now, if we were in some sort of zombie-apocalypse situation, I’m fairly confident we could rehydrate those yolks and survive 😅 But until then, we’ll stick to fresh eggs and properly preserved ones.
Tomorrow, I’m going to share some of our favorite ways to preserve spring and summer eggs for the winter months when laying slows down.
What are your thoughts on washed vs. unwashed eggs?
Aila
