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Old Wives Tale.....Egg Water and Warts!

(84 Posts)
Kateykrunch Mon 11-Mar-19 11:10:35

I was brought up believing that if you touched the water that eggs had been boiled in then you would get warts, I still avoid the water. But, I watched Jamie Oliver yesterday, he was steaming salmon and in the pan of boiling water he was cooking the green beans, but then, horror or horrors, he put 2 eggs (in their shells) into the same water as the beans!!! Oh my goodness, at worst those eggs have been up a chickens bum! I have to say it was my Mum who told me this, she also told me we lived next door to Cliff Richard and that she played table tennis for England, oh and I am a bit gullible, but really why would you cook the beans in the same water as a germy egg shell?

sarahcyn Tue 12-Mar-19 10:59:58

boat the weird bent pan used for boiling eggs is still used in my 94 year old mother's house but nobody ever told me what was wrong with using it for anything else apart from the fact it has 75 years of limescale on it (which is sterile anyway and good for your teeth)

Theoddbird Tue 12-Mar-19 10:56:10

I used to boil eggs with other things ...saved energy and washing up...

notnecessarilywiser Tue 12-Mar-19 10:49:18

Warts were a real threat when I was a child - not only the boiled egg water, but the air from a bicycle pump or touching a road would also do the trick (allegedly). smile

Annaram1 Tue 12-Mar-19 10:46:59

Besides the point a bit but I am allergic to eggs so never have them.
Just fascinated about the cockerels lack of a mating appendage. How on earth can they impregnate a hen?
Ain't nature wonderful?

Willow10 Tue 12-Mar-19 10:37:35

We were told as kids that it was handling the eggshells that gave you warts. It made cutting the tops off and eating a boiled egg very difficult!

nannyof4 Tue 12-Mar-19 10:30:27

Yes i have boiled eggs with potatoes and veggies why use another pan.

Fennel Tue 12-Mar-19 10:30:23

When we had chickens quite often there would be a smear of faeces or blood on their eggs. I always washed them.

Saggi Tue 12-Mar-19 10:27:53

The boiling water will kill any germs....I always pop eggs in to boil with my new spuds when doing a salad. Warts from egg water.... really shoulda grown out off all the nonesense by now... walking under ladders ...new shoes on table...open umbrellas in house.... salt over shoulder....crossing on the stairs... honestly! I drive my hubby mad when I do this stuff...his mum was a bit bonkers superstition wise. And his biggest superstition is religion ...thank god im an atheist.

elleks Tue 12-Mar-19 10:18:38

boat; Do you mean calamine lotion?

Jalima1108 Tue 12-Mar-19 10:05:18

I've heard of a few tales of how to get rid of warts - rub them with a piece of steak and bury the steak in the garden, as it rots the warts will drop off. Or go to a 'wart charmer' and she (or he) will buy them from you and they will disappear - someone I know did that and they did go quite quickly!

Franbern Tue 12-Mar-19 09:47:24

When I used to boil eggs in a saucepan I always kept a small old one, as it seemed to damage that pan. For many many years now I have used an electric egg boiler - this
came following me often forgetting that I had put eggs on to boil, and the saucepan boiled dry and eggs exploded!!!!
There is no way that eggs can give (or cure)warts. This is caused by a virus. When I had them on my fingers, when I was a small girl, my Dad tied them off with cotton and they fell off, painlessly and never returned.
Think the purple stuff was Genetian Violet - it stains everything it comes into contact with - my Dad used it on me for Chilblains, and even in the 70's my GP recommended its use for Oral Thrush!!!

Jalima1108 Mon 11-Mar-19 16:50:19

No-one taught me not to scrub the boiled egg pan but I never do! However, my mother would be horrified, everything was scoured and shining!

boat Mon 11-Mar-19 15:58:18

Sodapop

I never had warts when I was a kid but remember others at school going around with purple stains on their hands from the stuff that was supposed to cure them.

Now I am getting a bit ancient I have warts all over and other strange growths that I have taken to doctors and been told were not a problem..

I have a bit of a worry about skin cancer because back in the 50's parents didn't slaver their kids with sun screen.

You went on holiday. You were on the beach in a swimsuit all of the first day. By night time you were burning and next day your skin peeled off in strips (about four inches wide).

Your parents applied Camomile Lotion (useless).

If I'd lived In New Zealand or Australia I'd have grown up being educated by seeing pictures of what skin cancers look like

sodapop Mon 11-Mar-19 14:59:33

Never heard of that one boat and I'm a Yorkshire lass.
I had warts on my fingers when I was a child and despite all sorts of treatment they kept returning. The Dr arranged for me to see a consultant at a local hospital. When I arrived he asked me to show him the warts - they were gone. He said that happened quite frequently. I've never had any since.

shysal Mon 11-Mar-19 14:45:51

I would have no qualms about boiling eggs along with other foods. I would give a quick rinse under the tap first. and not worry in the least. I think some people are far too fussy about 'germs'. Unless their immune system is compromised the old addage of eating a peck of dirt before we die is no problem for most of us.

boat Mon 11-Mar-19 14:39:03

Incidentally my mother taught me to never clean the pan used for boiling eggs. She said it was, "A tradition".

She was from Glossop near Manchester. Is this a Northern thing or something she invented? I spent most of my life in the SE and never heard of it there.

Jalima1108 Mon 11-Mar-19 14:35:24

That's the word!
Gosh, well remembered!

boat Mon 11-Mar-19 14:33:04

I seem to remember from biology lessons 60 years ago that the joined up bit is called a cloaca and that quite a lot of animals have this arrangement.

Jalima1108 Mon 11-Mar-19 14:07:35

I think it is only the last little bit that is joined, so the part coming from the intestines would be closed off when the egg is coming down the vagina.
Is that nature's way of keeping the egg clean (it works most of the time).

chelseababy Mon 11-Mar-19 13:43:36

Yes Fennel I just googled I! ??

MiniMoon Mon 11-Mar-19 13:09:40

Warts are the result of a virus. How on earth can the water you boiled eggs in give you them? As for boiling eggs in the same pan as the beans, I would. I've boiled all sorts of things together with no adverse effects.

Fennel Mon 11-Mar-19 12:40:53

When making kedgeree I usually put rice on to boil and then add eggs in their shells for hard boiled.
Chelsea do you mean hens have only one opening? For all those things? plus mating.
I didn't know that and we kept hens for years.
Another thing I learnt recently, cockerels don't have a penis. But that's beside the point!

Jalima1108 Mon 11-Mar-19 12:39:14

I'd still use a separate pan to be on the safe side!

Jalima1108 Mon 11-Mar-19 12:38:27

They join at the very end but pushing out an egg must stop faeces being pushed out at the same time

chelseababy Mon 11-Mar-19 12:26:57

Hens have one opening for urine, faeces and laying eggs.