The ideal conditions are temperatures that don't go above 40F. (4°C.) and a relative humidity of 70 to 80%. .
Proper handling means prompt gathering, washing and oiling of the eggs within a few hours after laying. Most commercially produced eggs reach supermarkets within a few days of leaving the laying house. If the market and the buyer handle them properly, they will still be fresh when they reach the table. .
It is not true that freshness can be judged by placing an egg in salt water. A carefully controlled brine test is sometimes used to judge shell thickness of eggs for hatching purposes but has no application to freshness of table eggs. .
How important is "freshness"? As an egg ages, the white becomes thinner and the yolk becomes flatter. These changes do not have any great effect on the nutritional quality of the egg or its functional cooking properties in recipes. Appearance may be affected, though. When poached or fried, the fresher the egg, the more it will hold its shape rather than spread out in the pan. On the other hand, if you hard cook eggs that are at least a week old, you'll find them easier to peel after cooking and cooling than fresher eggs.
History of an Egg.
Because birds preceded man in the evolutionary chain, both eggs and birds have been around longer than historians. Nobody really knows when the first fowl was domesticated, although Indian history places the date as early as 3200 B.C. Egyptian and Chinese records show that fowl were laying eggs for man in 1400 B.C. The dependability of the rooster's early morning call and the regularity with which newly laid eggs appeared probably inspired the Chinese to describe fowl as "the domestic animal who knows time. It is believed that Columbus' ships carried the first of the chickens related to those now in egg production to this country. These strains originated in Asia.
How to Boil an Egg .
Simple step by step guide to boiling an egg.