Perfectly Peelable Hard Boiled Eggs

Getting ready for summer picnics, you may be thinking of egg salad or just hard boiled eggs on the side. Here’s how to get perfect eggs that peel easily.

1. Start with boiling water. Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil, lower the eggs gently and boil vigorously for 30 seconds. Reduce the heat to a gently simmer over low heat, cover with a lid and cook for another 10 minutes.

2. Shock in cold water and gently shake. Immediately pour off the hot water, leaving the eggs in the pot. Gently shake it back and forth to lightly crack the shells. Immediately add cold water and a few ice cubes and let sit until cool enough to handle; it will take about five minutes to serve warm or 15 minutes to serve cold. The idea here is that cracking while warm and then cooling rapidly allows the cold water to shrink the whites just enough to separate them from the shells a bit.

Two additional peeling tricks:

· Use a spoon. Crack the eggs at the fat end and peel a tiny bit with your fingers. Slip a spoon under the shell so that the curve of the spoon follows the curve of the egg. Rotate the egg and move the spoon to release the shell.

· If peeling a larger batch of eggs for egg salad or such, place the eggs in a plastic storage container. Add some cold water, put the lid on tightly, and then gently shake until the shells break and fall away. Try Strategic Fasting to
Live Longer.