“A boiled egg in the morning is hard to beat”

“A boiled egg in the morning is hard to beat” is a joke that has appeared on many Internet lists since 2000. The joke centers on “hard to beat” eggs meaning also “couldn’t be better.”
 
The joke is much older than the Internet. “Hard to Beat.—A boiled egg” was printed in a newspaper in 1860.
 
     
25 February 1860, Columbian Weekly Register (New Haven, CT), pg. 3, col. 5:
Hard to Beat.—A boiled egg.
   
Google Books
17 July 1876, Familiar Science & Fancier’s Journal, pg. 320, col. 1:
Hard to beat — A boiled egg.
 
Google News Archive
21 May 1885, Spencer (IA) Reporter, pg. 3, col. 7:
IN the matter of a diet a boiled egg is hard to beat.—Merchant Traveler.
 
Papers Past
2 May 1898, Timaru (NZ) Herald, pg. 4 ad:
WHY is BENJAMIN GUM like a Hard-boiled Egg?—Because it is HARD TO BEAT!
   
11 September 2000, Hutchinson (KS) News, “Jumble” game, pg. B9, col. 2:
Answer: A boiled egg in the morning is this—HARD TO BEAT
     
The Geek Culture Forums
Snaggy
posted March 20, 2002 13:06
(...)
19. A boiled egg in the morning is hard to beat.
 
Google News Archive
28 December 2002, Sun Weekend (St. John’s/Antigua), “On golden puns,” pg. 5, col. 4:
A boiled egg in the morning is hard to beat.
 
Inside Futures
OPTIONS PLAY: COMEX GOLD Sets Another Record
Friday, November 05, 2010
by Matt McKinney of Zaner
(...)
FREE QUOTE- “A boiled egg is hard to beat.”  -Woody Paige (Denver Post sportswriter—ed.)