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When I came across a blog post about aged eggnog recently, though, I was intrigued. According to Michael Ruhlman, the eggnog should be aged for at least 30 days but you can keep it (refrigerated) for up to three years, and the taste will continue developing over time. The secret, apparently, is an insanely high alcohol content, which kills any salmonella that may be lurking in the raw eggs. Science Friday tested this theory several years ago and found it to be sound. As Flora Lichtman put it, “It’s that perennial holiday question: Can I count on booze to kill the bugs in my homemade eggnog?” Their recipe was different from Ruhlman’s, but contains approximately the same ratio of egg yolks to sugar to milk/cream to alcohol (and it’s kind of fun to watch people use lab equipment to make eggnog and then spike it with salmonella).

  • Julia Thiel
  • You can freeze the leftover whites in an ice-cube tray.

Julia Thiel writes about booze on Wednesdays.