Could this be the oldest Easter egg in Ireland?
WE’VE all heard of those rule-breaking food mavericks who keep their nosh in the fridge well past its sellby date. But 46 years? A bit egg streme, no?
Meet Dolores McMahon, the Co. Meath woman who believes her four-decades-old egg is the oldest of the species in Ireland
Dolores, 60, never opened the Easter egg her father gave to her 46 years ago, and as he died a few months later, she could not bring herself to get rid of it.
She admits that even though the egg is a ‘bit mouldy’, it holds a great deal of sentimental value. ‘I was 14 years of age, and my mum and dad gave me this amazing Easter egg,’ she said.
‘In 1973, the eggs were very plain and there wasn’t much choice, but this one was in a beautiful box and the chocolate egg, which was in a clear, hard cellophane wrapping, had iced flowers on it. It’s a luxurious Fuller’s chocolate egg, filled with chocolate toffee sweets and looks as good today as it did last year – I won’t say it looks as good as the day they bought it,’ she laughed.
‘I remember thinking it was so beautiful that I couldn’t eat it, so I held onto it and I wrote – on the inside of the box – the date and that it was given to me by my parents, Bridie and Jack McEntee. As the weeks passed, the egg was moved onto a shelf in my wardrobe, but I knew at that stage I wasn’t going to eat it, because God only knows what was growing on it.
‘I don’t know how it escalated. The days turned into weeks, then months and it was still there.’
She said the egg became even more sentimental when her dad died four months later, as it was the last Easter egg he gave her.
The egg came with Dolores when she moved to Dublin for work, and was later put on display in a cabinet when she moved to Navan after getting married.
‘All my nieces and nephews, and even my own daughter think it’s mad that I held onto it for so long, but it’s a great talking point,’ she said. ‘I’ve threatened so many times to put it in the wheelie bin, but I can’t bring myself to do it.
‘I have to say though, each year I have to check if it’s alive or dead. I don’t know how much longer it will hold on!’
However, Dolores is keen to have her title challenged as the holder of the oldest Easter egg in Ireland, saying: ‘It’s probably one of the oldest but I’d love to know if someone out there has one that is even older.’ Answers to the email address below!