If you're planning on serving deviled eggs for Easter, better get cracking.

Good cooks know a secret about peeling hard-cooked eggs, and it flies against conventional wisdom: Prepare older eggs, not the freshest available.

That means the best time to pick up a carton is right now. Eggs aged in the refrigerator for at least a week to 10 days before cooking are much easier to peel, says Elisa Maloberti, director of egg product marketing for the American Egg Board.

The dry environment draws a little moisture through an egg's porous shell, allowing the membrane underneath to separate. That air bubble is the ticket to prettier deviled eggs.

Procrastinators can look for eggs that are within a week of the sell-by date on the carton, but those are tough to find during Easter season. Sales typically rise 40 percent, and supplies turn over quickly.

The best strategy: Buy before Sunday, and wait until the day before Easter to prepare them.

To hard-cook and peel a large egg

Place eggs in a pot and cover with an inch of water. Bring to a boil. Turn off the heat, cover the pot, remove from the burner and let the eggs sit in the hot water for 15 minutes. Add cold water to moderate the temperature, then drain. If storing the eggs without peeling, refresh with more cold water to chill.

Eggs peel easier when warm, or when held under running water.

Tap an egg gently on a hard surface to crackle the shell all over. Start peeling at the large end, where the membrane is most likely to contain an air bubble.

Hard-cooked eggs keep for up to a week if properly refrigerated.

— Source: American Egg Board

Egg factoids:

Egg cartons must be marketed with a sell-by date no later than 30 days after the eggs were packed.

Eggs keep their quality and freshness as long as four to five weeks after packing.

Many stores run seasonal sales on eggs. The average prize per dozen was $2.17 in January, the latest available figures.

Specialty eggs such as cage-free, free-range, vegetarian-fed, organic or nutrient-enhanced make up 6 to 10 percent of sales.