Eggs-tra ap-peeling.

• nomnomenon


• 21 Feb 2015

Membranes. Temperature. Contraction. And how to peel an egg perfectly.

1-Minute NomNom

Peeling the shell of an egg perfectly has been the subject of many sites. In a (nut)shell, pun intended, it boils, pun intended again, down to using temperature differences to make the peeling task an easy one.

In the egg are two membranes: an outer shell membrane that sits next to the shell, and an inner shell membrane that sits between the inside of the egg and the outer shell membrane. In between the two membranes, at the bottom of the egg is an air cell or air pocket.

When we boil an egg, it is at a higher temperature than the ambient temperature. As it cools, the inside starts to contract. As the egg cools and contracts, the two membranes contract too and are pulled apart, forming an even larger air pocket. The larger the air pocket is, the easier it is to peel the shell.

That is why websites such as Lifehacker, Serious Eats, and Momables suggest cooling the egg after you have boiled it. They even go as far as to recommend that we plunge it into ice water!

The air bubble also has another use. It can be used to see how fresh an egg is – find out how in the 1-Minute NomNom “Get fresh“.

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How do you get a perfect peel? Share your tips and tricks in the comments below!

 

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