You probably know that you shouldn’t leave Easter eggs out on display all day, but safety actually begins long before those eggs adorn your Easter table.
When purchasing eggs, Use only clean grade A or AA eggs with clean, unbroken shells that have been stored at or below 41 degrees. Make sure there are no cracks in the shells, or other discoloration or blemishes.
To hard boil eggs, the American Egg Board recommends the following method:
1. Place eggs in single layer in saucepan. Add enough tap water to come at least 1 inch above eggs. A tablespoon of vinegar can be added to allow better dye coverage after cooking.
2. Cover pan and quickly bring just to boiling. Turn off heat. If necessary, remove pan from burner to prevent further boiling.
3. Let eggs stand, covered, in the hot water for 15 minutes. Immediately run cold water over eggs or place them in ice water until completely cooled. Refrigerate all hard cooked eggs.
When decorating your eggs, be sure and use FDA approved food dyes. If you use fancy decorations likes paints, markers, glitter and the like, just admire the eggs, don’t eat them.
After the eggs are dyed, keep them refrigerated until you eat them, up until one week. You can keep them out of the refrigerator for display for up to two hours, but don’t leave them out longer than that.
If you are going to use Easter Eggs for an Easter Egg hunt, be sure to hide them in places where they will be easily found (Rumor has it that Mrs. Nixon hid Easter Eggs so well for the annual White House Easter Egg hunt that the grounds smelled bad for days because of the rotting eggs), and out of the way of pesticides, herbicides, animal wastes, and other garbage.
And remember, if you pack a leftover egg in Junior’s lunch, make sure it’s in an insulated container along with a cold pack.