Q.: I just bought a dozen free-range chicken eggs from a local farm market. Last week, on one of the cooking shows, I thought I heard that you don’t use the same quantities in a recipe. If a recipe calls for 3 eggs, you only use 1 to 1½. Is this true? How do I know what to use?
Also, they were packed on Sept. 12; what would the expiration be? The same as store bought?
— Karen Kirkendall, Akron
A.: I’m not sure what you heard, but in cooking and baking you would use the same number of free-range eggs as you would traditional eggs in a recipe, assuming their size was the same. Most recipes, unless otherwise stated, always use large eggs.
As far as storing them, farm fresh eggs are good for 4 to 5 weeks in the refrigerator.
When buying eggs at a farmers market, it’s a good idea to ask whether the eggs were washed and refrigerated within a day of being laid. This will greatly cut down on the chance of contamination from salmonella, which multiplies rapidly in temperatures above 45 degrees.
Remember, all eggs, no matter whether organic, cage-free or free-range, are at risk of salmonella contamination, unless they have been pasteurized.
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