… with our forty-one eggs, ready to make our Quiche and crepes. Problem is that because they were collecting over time in our girls secret spot, we have no idea how old they are and if any of them are rotten!
We could blow each one (in preparation for dyeing and decorating for our symbolic fertility hunt) and use our sniffers…. perfectly fine.
Hettie, how can we know if these eggs are any good, without having to sniff each one?
Easy-Peasy! she declared. Just drop the egg in a cup or bowl of cold water. If it’s super-fresh it will sink to the bottom. If it’s a little older it will bob up from the bottom a bit and if its rotten, it will float! That easy!
As an egg ages it develops gas inside. The increasing gas makes it float more and more as the gas bubble gets larger over time…… cool huh!
. . . which happens a lot at this time of year when the girls get started laying and we are getting into the groove with them) you don’t have to worry about poisoning your family with rotten eggs or even grossing yourself out by cracking one open into the french toast mix.
You can just test them and be at peace.
She’s insisting I let her mention the similar water-test for witches from the seventeen hundreds.
Do you know you can find out if you (or someone on your block) is a witch by tying their left hand to their right foot and right hand to left foot and throwing them in water? If innocent, the suspect will sink and survive from drowning if saved in time. If guilty, the sacred water will reject them….. and they will float.
Oh Hettie, why do you always have to be so morbid? I mean, how is this even relevant?
Well, she’s quacking in my ear, eggs are the worldwide symbol and builder of fertility, they are revered as sacred in many cultures of the globe. So witches (often known as midwives) were basically considered rotten-eggs. Don’t you see???
Well Hettie, as usual I am going to have to think about it.
Tell us all about it in the comments!