Well, I know about *jarred* Mayo! I’ve never made it myself.
When I was young, we never worried about ‘bad eggs’. But we always got eggs from small, local businesses.
Nowadays, eggs are a much larger-scale industry; and when things get large, there’s more room for mistakes.
I used to make eggnog and cold mousse out of raw eggs; as time went on, I became concerned about raw eggs, and began buying pasteurized eggs for those purposes. But lately, we can’t find pasteurized eggs in our local markets.
Ping to Johnny, if you should have time: How do you pasteurize an egg at home, for something like eggnog or mousse or mayonnaise?
-JT
/johnny
We buy mayo in a jar, too. :) We do buy fresh eggs from someone down the street. They’re beautiful! He leaves a cooler on his old stone wall by the street, and people put money in a jar in payment. They’re so delicious.
I’ve never been ill from eating eggs and have had them in the classic Caesar salad many times.
My good friend, who was a foodie before we had the term reassured me years ago that all that raw egg scare stuff was just another commie plot.
I’m a little less bold that she, but I’ve made raw egg egg nog for the past 2 Christmases with no problem.
We buy eggland’s best eggs and I figure all the booze will probably kill anything.
This year I’m going to change it a little and do 3/4 Rum and 1/4 bourbon rather than 1/2 and 1/2.
Look, I’m back to wintertime too!
We’ve been enjoying real farm eggs for at least the last 30 years. There’s no comparison to the cage raised commercial eggs. Just crack one of each open side by side. The cage raised egg is pale yellow and the farm raised egg is more orange and there is no comparison on the flavor. It’s just like the raw goats milk we drank for over 20 years and made cheese, ice cream, yogurt and kefir from. If your animals are healthy and fed a good diet you will benefit from a superior product. I do like a good homemade mayo too, just haven’t made any in awhile. Just too lazy to get out the cuisinart and clean it up afterwards.
The vinegar, lemon juice, etc., in your homemade mayonnaise makes the end result acidified enough such that bacteria can’t live in it.
Even the NIH admits this...
“Microbiological safety of mayonnaise, salad dressings, and sauces produced in the United States: a review.”
(read more at the link)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10945595
Just plain raw egg yolk at room temperature is where bacteria can grow well. But a newly hatched egg has great protection from bacteria exactly as it comes out of the chicken.
“Why The U.S. Chills Its Eggs And Most Of The World Doesn’t”
(read more at the link)
Trouble is, as the article says, in we’ve regulated farmers into “washing” the eggs, thus allowing bacteria to pass through the shell, thus we require refrigeration all along the whole supply chain to the table. Many other countries are followers of the “no-wash, no-refrigerate” regimen that the entire world always followed up until a few decades ago.
“Take Care to Avoid Risk with Backyard Chickens “
(read more at the link)
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/06/salmonella-risk-in-backyard-chicken-eggs/#.VTCV9ovwA6Y
“As an egg ages, protective barriers inside the egg break down and the egg becomes more susceptible to bacteria, according to Schivera’s report. The egg white’s alkalinity discourages bacterial growth and the thick white inhibits movement of bacteria. When the white weakens with age, bacteria are more able to enter the nutrient-rich yolk, where they can thrive if the egg is stored at a warm temperature. However, a clean, fresh egg is rarely internally contaminated.”