Neither white nor blond: eggs want us to buy them boiled

Hard-boiled eggs can be found in the refrigerated section of supermarkets. I'll write it again. Half a dozen boiled and peeled eggs, in the refrigerated section. There is a wonderful recipe, traditional to our region, made with hard-boiled eggs, which are deviled eggs. They are cut in half, the yolk is mixed with tuna and its olive oil, and then the filling is placed back inside the concave part of the egg. A little egg white is grated on top (from another hard-boiled egg we have). An important detail: the price of a package of hard-boiled eggs is similar to fresh eggs; it's around two euros for half a dozen.The question is: can't we make hard-boiled eggs or peel them? Is our culinary knowledge so meager that we can't put a pot with plenty of cold water on the stove and put the eggs in it? When the water boils, put the fresh eggs in with the help of a spoon and after twelve minutes they will be cooked. Let them cool, and then peel them. A note: if we leave the eggs in boiling water for six minutes, we will have soft-boiled eggs. If they stay in for three minutes, poached eggs. You don't have to have studied at ten cooking schools, or even one, to boil and peel an egg.Industry anticipates our needs, and what it gives us is time, because that's what we shouldn't have when we buy hard-boiled eggs. Nutrition specialist doctor Montse Folch tells me that a hard-boiled egg bought at the supermarket is "nutritionally very similar to one cooked at home." Dietitian-nutritionist Anna Grífols agrees, adding that supermarket hard-boiled eggs, like homemade ones, "provide high biological value proteins, fat-soluble vitamins such as A and D, B group vitamins, choline, selenium, and other essential minerals for health and sports performance. The mere act of cooking, peeling, and packaging it does not significantly alter its nutritional value." She also adds that there's no need to be alarmed "if ingredients like citric acid (E-330) or lactic acid (E-270) appear, as they are intended to maintain the microbiological stability and pH of the product." Among all the packages of boiled and peeled eggs you find, there is a warning: pay attention to the amount of salt. "If it provides more than 0.8-1 grams per hundred, it's better to look for another one, because the ideal salt quantity would be a maximum of 0.5 g per hundred," states doctor Montse Folch.Peeled with nutrients

Regarding the fact that eggs are peeled, the dietitian-nutritionist Anna Grífols also sees no problem. “It does not involve a significant loss of nutrients; the same are lost as if we did it at home, which are some water-soluble and heat-labile vitamins, but their nutritional impact is minimal”. So science applauds the invention; industry gives us time and consumers don't even boil eggs so we don't have to cook. But, alas!, there is one thing we will never have if we buy a package of hard-boiled eggs: taste! The flavor, the smell, the texture of a hard-boiled egg from a plastic supermarket package will not be the same as the one we made at home on an exhausting day, when all you feel like is a fresh lettuce salad with a boiled egg that you prepare in that pot you have designated for boiling. While you boil the eggs, you can put on your comfortable house clothes and slippers. Set the table with your tablecloth, the plate, the cutlery. Peel the eggs with your hands. If you are very hungry, you will burn your fingertips a little if the eggs are hot; if you have had the patience to let them cool, you will peel them in a moment. Some people place a glass bowl in the freezer while the eggs are boiling, because that way, as soon as the twelve minutes have passed, they can take the empty bowl out of the freezer and place the boiled eggs in it. Then the egg cools down immediately. Everything is easy if we want to do it right. We gain a lot, we gain taste, which no invention of the food industry will ever beat us in.