# Hundred-Year-Old Eggs on Fear Factor **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 18, 2004, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundred-year-old-eggs-on-fear-factor/275457 "2004-11-18T14:00:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundred-year-old-eggs-on-fear-factor/275457/1 "2004-11-18T14:00:34Z")
I was watching a rerun of _Fear Factor_ of FX last night. One of the stunts involved contestants eating a one hundred year-old egg. Where, exactly, does one find a hundred-year-old egg? I mean, if you find eggs lying around a barn that’s been abandoned for a century, you’re still just guessing as to its age. It could have been laid last week by a wild chicken, for all we know. Also, I doubt that, one hundred years ago, someone put aside a few eggs in the belief that they’d be used in 2004. Anyone know the scoop on this disgusting side of archaeology ---
**Author:** ![keeper0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@keeper0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/keeper0)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundred-year-old-eggs-on-fear-factor/275457/2 "2004-11-18T14:12:10Z")
When I passed by that episode, I presumed that Fear Factor was lying about the eggs being a hundred years old. They probably took regular eggs, did some nasty things to them and then called them “100 year old eggs”. Sort of the prime time, high-tech equivalent of the peeled grapes = eyeballs in a haunted house. Can you imagine the lawsuits from someone getting sick from REAL 100 year old eggs? I don’t care what they make you sign before you go on that show, that’s a lawsuit you would win. ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundred-year-old-eggs-on-fear-factor/275457/3 "2004-11-18T14:15:26Z")
You sure they weren’t the Chinese pickled egg cheerfully referred to as Hundred Year Eggs or [Thousand Year Eggs](http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=604342)? Because they’re not all that old. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundred-year-old-eggs-on-fear-factor/275457/4 "2004-11-18T14:16:44Z")
You can buy “100 year old eggs” in Chinese grocery stores. They are not a century old, but they are pickled in a fairly disgusting (to my palate) manner. The ones I saw weren’t chicken eggs but quail, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundred-year-old-eggs-on-fear-factor/275457/5 "2004-11-18T14:17:21Z")
[It’s a pickled egg](http://ask.yahoo.com/ask/20011114.html). Well, not pickled like dill pickled, but pickled in wood ash, earth, salt and tea. They’re a Chinese dish, often called “1000 year old eggs” and most often made of duck eggs. They’re rarely more than 100 days old. But you do dig them up out of the ground, so it feels like archaeology! ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundred-year-old-eggs-on-fear-factor/275457/6 "2004-11-18T14:17:58Z")
One of [these](http://www.epicurious.com/cooking/how_to/food_dictionary/entry?id=2998) I guess. They look scary, but they don’t taste that challenging. Nice by themselves or sliced into congee (rice porridge). ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundred-year-old-eggs-on-fear-factor/275457/7 "2004-11-18T14:18:31Z")
_grumble, grumble_ …type too slow… _grumble_ ---
**Author:** ![Waverly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/57b2e6/32.png) [@Waverly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waverly)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundred-year-old-eggs-on-fear-factor/275457/8 "2004-11-18T14:21:53Z")
100 year eggs don’t taste bad at all, and yes, I’ve tried them. The moniker doesn’t necessarily mean they were aged a full 100 years, and the ones you get today are just as likely to have had the process accelerated chemically. The original 100 year eggs would have been buried underground and the chemical reaction and heat of decomposition would harden and preserve the egg. ---
**Author:** ![Waverly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/57b2e6/32.png) [@Waverly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waverly)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundred-year-old-eggs-on-fear-factor/275457/9 "2004-11-18T14:29:57Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > _grumble, grumble_ …type too slow… _grumble_ There was on reply when I hit submit. I blame a temporal anomaly. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundred-year-old-eggs-on-fear-factor/275457/10 "2004-11-18T14:58:20Z")
Hey I found pics! Does that make up for the temporal anomoly? [This](http://hk.geocities.com/fun_cooking/info/egg/thousand_year_egg.htm) looks really neat! (Not in English. I assume it’s work safe and not a fetish page devoted to Chinese pickled eggs.) The insides? [Not so pretty](http://www.makantime.com/cookbook/images/centuryegg4.jpg). I’ve never grown accustomed to the black food group, myself. But apparently [presentation](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://minutillo.com/steve/weblog/images/pidan-2.jpg&imgrefurl=http://minutillo.com/steve/weblog/2003/4/11/x86cb&h=179&w=235&sz=10&tbnid=U-C3eMGa7y4J:&tbnh=79&tbnw=103&start=5&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dthousand%2Byear%2Begg%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D) does make the meal. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundred-year-old-eggs-on-fear-factor/275457/11 "2004-11-18T15:09:18Z")
pi2dan4, or century eggs. they taste better than cheese. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundred-year-old-eggs-on-fear-factor/275457/12 "2004-11-18T16:49:03Z")
> [@keeper0](#): > > Can you imagine the lawsuits from someone getting sick from REAL 100 year old eggs? I don’t care what they make you sign before you go on that show, that’s a lawsuit you would win. Well exactly. That’s why it doesn’t matter how scarey, revolting or dangerous the stuff is made to look in ‘reality’ TV game shows, you can be 100% sure that the safety guys have been all over it beforehand. The TV companies need insurance to do these programs and the insurers are well aware of the financial costs of anyone getting ill, injured or even killed. There is no way in a million years they are going to permit people to eat anything that is not 100% certified fit for human consumption. I read an interview with a TV insurance guy on the web not so long ago that explained all this. Unfortunately I can’t find it now… ☹ ---
**Author:** ![peepthis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@peepthis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peepthis)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundred-year-old-eggs-on-fear-factor/275457/13 "2004-11-18T17:07:51Z")
> [@Futile Gesture](#): > > I read an interview with a TV insurance guy on the web not so long ago that explained all this. Unfortunately I can’t find it now… ☹ A story in the Hollywood Reporter interviewed the guys who come up with the disgusting competitions on “Fear Factor.” You can read it [here](http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20041115/news_mz1c15fear.html). To quote briefly,: > [@](#): > > “If I can’t keep it down, then maybe it’s not edible,” [production coordinator] Silberman says. “(Also), I need to do it for camera-blocking purposes. I’m not allowed to vomit, or it’s not right to expect that the contestants won’t.” Of course, adds Silberman, “If they puke, my stock soars.” > > Silberman claims not to use recipes for his gross-out cuisine. Instead, he works with his “gross-stunt team” and “gross producer” Scott Larsen to work out a particular show’s needs. Then, he goes shopping. > > “If they say we need to use cow eyeballs this week, I’ll go and pick them up at a USDA-approved slaughterhouse. Then, I’ll just use my imagination.” > > Larsen explains that his department’s job is to come up with the worst and foulest imaginable idea and then tone it down, so that it gains approval from NBC’s standards and practices department. > > Consuming human placenta, drinking human urine or blood or bobbing for objects in blood (rather than water) “just freaked people out too much,” Silberman says. “But you can’t do what you can’t do.” ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundred-year-old-eggs-on-fear-factor/275457/14 "2004-11-18T17:17:30Z")
I don’t watch the show, but my dad does so sometimes I’m subjected to it while walking through the room - I did once see a contestant who evidently had an allergy she was unaware of get scratched by reaching into a rotten fish mouth or something - her arm swelled up some and she was sent packing post haste. They roll out all hard with the fetus pie, but they obviously had a doctor right off screen and took it extremely seriously - it’s safe as houses. ---
**Author:** ![jester21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ed655f/32.png) [@jester21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jester21)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundred-year-old-eggs-on-fear-factor/275457/15 "2004-11-19T12:50:29Z")
I work third shift, and our break is usually around midnight… the local FOX affiliate recently switched from “Street Smarts” to “Fear Factor” in that time slot. I wasn’t happy. But on the bright side, I get to see large breasted, scantily clad women about to vomit while eating disgusting stuff/bugs. :eek: I’m not sure this is a good thing… but it kind of grows on you after a while 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundred-year-old-eggs-on-fear-factor/275457/16 "2004-11-19T13:03:58Z")
> [@Futile Gesture](#): > > Well exactly. That’s why it doesn’t matter how scarey, revolting or dangerous the stuff is made to look in ‘reality’ TV game shows, you can be 100% sure that the safety guys have been all over it beforehand. The TV companies need insurance to do these programs and the insurers are well aware of the financial costs of anyone getting ill, injured or even killed. There is no way in a million years they are going to permit people to eat anything that is not 100% certified fit for human consumption. That actually reminds me of “Joe schmo” (yes, I watched that show,) and the difficulty of setting up the sketch where Matt was told to eat the dog droppings (but would complain, and negotiate with the fake ‘producer,’ and the segment would go in a different direction from there.) Partly because no-one could be 100% sure that he wouldn’t just go for it, and that no-one would be able to stop him if he did, they decided that they couldn’t use _real_ dog droppings, and one of the show’s special effects people came up with something of exactly the right color, texture and odor… I think it was some kind of mild pate, with artificial dog dropping odor added. (They even talked about this one company that makes thousands and thousands of different kinds of artificial odors, and had one that was suitable for this purpose.) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2004, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundred-year-old-eggs-on-fear-factor/275457/17 "2004-11-19T13:53:27Z")
> [@chrisk](#): > > That actually reminds me of “Joe schmo” (yes, I watched that show,) and the difficulty of setting up the sketch where Matt was told to eat the dog droppings (but would complain, and negotiate with the fake ‘producer,’ and the segment would go in a different direction from there.) > > Partly because no-one could be 100% sure that he wouldn’t just go for it, and that no-one would be able to stop him if he did, they decided that they couldn’t use _real_ dog droppings, and one of the show’s special effects people came up with something of exactly the right color, texture and odor… I think it was some > kind of mild pate, with artificial dog dropping odor added. (They even talked about this one company that makes thousands and thousands of different kinds of artificial odors, and had one that was suitable for this purpose.) Wow, [Divine actually did eat the dog droppings](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069089/) - the real things. (As I recall, John Waters called the emergency room afterwards and told them his kid ate doo-doo and should he worry about it. They told him no. Wouldn’t ya think he’d have called them first?) Ah, how times (and potential lawsuits) have changed. ---
**Author:** ![charizard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charizard/32/4166_2.png) [@charizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/charizard)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2004, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hundred-year-old-eggs-on-fear-factor/275457/18 "2004-11-20T02:26:15Z")
There seems to be a confusion here between two different types of aged eggs from China. [ul]Regular preserved eggs - pi3dan4 (“Leather eggs”). These are delicious and almost anyone can get to like them if served up correctly. Often served with some soy sauce, or cooked as an ingredient in a thick rice soup (zhou). The “white” is now black and like hardened jello, and the yolk is just slightly darkened. [/ul] [ul]Hundred- (or Thousand-)year-old-eggs are quite different. Although they are, as stated, only about 100 days old, they seem like 1000. They’re green, of a mucous-like consistency, and stink to high heaven (of something like ammonia). People can eat them raw, but it’s hard to imagine how. Or they can be cooked into something (again, hard to imagine how). [/ul]