Should you keep your eggs in the fridge? It’s a divisive topic, that’s for sure.
Some do, some don’t – but according to TV chef James Martin, there’s a pretty good reason why you shouldn’t.
While talking to Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield on ITV’s This Morning, Martin explained the best way to get the best out of your eggs.
“All eggs are porous,” he explains, before adding that this means they ‘absorb the flavours’ of whatever else is chilling in the fridge with them.
Not good.
Martin was baking a Victoria Sponge during a segment on the show when the topic came up.
“If you have truffle, for instance, in the restaurant we put that in a bowl with rice and put the eggs on top and cling film it and leave it overnight.
“When you break the eggs in the morning for breakfast for customers, [you get] truffle scrambled eggs but there’s no truffle in it.”
Furthering Martin’s point, the Pennsylvania University goes into greater detail about why you shouldn’t keep eggs in the fridge.
“The shell is porous and the large end contains more pores than the small end of the egg.
“There are about 7,000 pores in a chicken eggshell. This permits the transfer of gases through the shell.”
To be fair, the tip works depending on where you are in the world, as in the UK most supermarket eggs are sold unwashed.
However, in places like the USA, they actually have to be kept in the fridge for health and safety reasons.
Martin suggests storing eggs in the cupboard instead – but admitted that they do last longer when kept in the fridge.
This helps avoid any cross-contamination of flavour – provided that isn’t what you’re going for.
Martin says another reason for this is that cold eggs aren’t as effective when cooking and, ideally, should be kept at room temperature.
It should be made clear that keeping eggs in the fridge isn’t going to spoil them or make them unusable – and many claim that it preserves their temperature, which is better for the egg.
As ever when it comes to kitchen-based debates, experts are divided on how best to keep your eggs.
However, Martin’s tips are worth bearing in mind – and if you do keep your eggs in the fridge, it’s always worth warming them back to room temperature before cooking.
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