How to Tell if Eggs Are Fresh: The Float Test and Other Methods

Whether you've bought eggs from a farm stall, found a box at the back of your fridge, or collected them from your own hens without keeping track of dates, knowing how to check egg freshness is genuinely useful. Here are the most reliable methods — starting with the famous float test.

The float test

Fill a bowl or deep glass with cold water and gently lower the egg in. What happens next tells you a lot:

• Sinks and lies flat on the bottom — very fresh, ideally within the last week
• Sinks but tilts or stands upright on one end — 2-3 weeks old, still perfectly fine to eat
• Floats at the surface — old egg, potentially past its best. Crack and smell before deciding.

The science behind it: eggshells are porous, and as an egg ages air slowly enters through tiny pores in the shell, enlarging the air cell at the broad end. More air means more buoyancy. It's reliable, requires no equipment, and works on any egg.

The one limitation: the float test tells you about age, not safety. An egg can float and still be fine to eat. Your nose is the final judge — a bad egg smells unmistakeably of sulphur the moment you crack it.

The crack and look method

Crack the egg onto a flat plate and look at what you've got:

• Firm, upstanding yolk and thick white that holds its shape — fresh egg
• Flat yolk and thin, watery white that spreads across the plate — older egg, safe but past its best for frying or poaching
• Any discolouration, unusual smell or pink/green tinge — discard immediately

This method is faster than the float test for eggs you're about to cook and gives you useful information about how the egg will perform. A watery white won't hold together in a poached egg but is still fine for scrambled eggs or baking.

The candle method

Candling is the technique professional egg graders use to check eggs without cracking them. Hold the egg up to a bright light in a dark room — a torch pressed against the broad end of the egg works well. What you're looking for:

• Small air cell (a few millimetres) at the broad end — fresh egg
• Large air cell taking up a third or more of the egg — old egg
• Dark spots or moving shadows inside — potential contamination, discard

If you keep your own hens and want to candle eggs properly, a dedicated LED egg candler gives a much clearer view than a torch and costs under £10. Useful for checking hatching eggs as well as freshness.

The shake test

Hold the egg near your ear and shake it gently. A fresh egg feels solid with no movement inside. An older egg has a larger air cell and the contents move more freely — you may hear or feel a slight sloshing. This is the least reliable of the methods but useful as a quick check when you don't have water handy.

Why farm fresh eggs last longer

Eggs from a farm stall or honesty box are typically fresher than supermarket eggs — often by several weeks. A supermarket egg may have been laid up to 28 days before its best before date, meaning it could be a month old by the time you buy it.

Farm fresh eggs also often have the natural bloom (cuticle) intact. This is a thin protective coating the hen applies to the egg as it's laid — it seals the porous shell and keeps bacteria out. Commercial eggs are washed during grading, which removes the bloom and shortens shelf life. Unwashed farm eggs with the bloom intact keep longer and don't need to be refrigerated.

How to store eggs properly

• Unwashed farm eggs — store at room temperature away from strong smells (eggshells are porous and absorb odours). Use within 3-4 weeks.
• Washed eggs or supermarket eggs — refrigerate and use within 2-3 weeks of purchase.
• All eggs — store pointed end down to keep the yolk centred and the air cell at the top where it belongs. A proper countertop egg holder keeps eggs organised and off the fridge door (which is too warm for optimal storage).

Where to buy genuinely fresh eggs

The freshest eggs you can buy are always going to come direct from a local producer — a farm shop, honesty box, or someone who keeps hens nearby. The Farm Stall directory lists egg producers across the UK with map locations and whether they accept card payments, so you can find fresh eggs near you before setting off.