I'm as guilty as the next man for always choosing the darkest eggs; somehow they do look as if they would taste better, which of course they don't.
I recently bought the above eggs at market, and they are some of the palest eggs I've seen for a very long time. In fact I would say they 'stood out' because of their paleness. They reminded me of the piles of white hard-boiled eggs one used to find in Parisian Railways station cafés.
Well, I've just fried a couple for my breakfast, and I'm pleased to say that they were some of the freshest, and tastiest, eggs I've had since we used to keep our own hens.
Huge resources are spent on colouring eggs so that they appeal to the buyer, and I suspect that buyers will always continue to find the darker ones more appealing.
What we should all be doing, however, is insisting on fresh, free-range, and tasty eggs, rather than buying mass-produced indoor battery eggs, simply for their attractive colour.
The only problem is finding them. Amen.
I am guessing close to half our eggs here are now free range. But the definition of free range is not good and not what the public would think of when they think of free range.
ReplyDeleteThe eggs in the photo were 100% free range. Her hens are all outdoors, and receive just a handful of wheat or crushed maize every day. Exactly how we used to treat our own, before they were killed by next-door's dogs.
DeleteI am very lucky because there is a small farm at the end of my road and I can see the chickens who lay the eggs running around. They are not quite as free as they once were because a fox killed about seven of them one summer a few years ago. Now they have a fenced in yard and a number of chicken wire tunnels going off of it. But I think they are having a good life.
ReplyDeleteI once lost my entire run-full to a Fox. They were well fenced in at night, but Charlie found a way in, and killed the lot.
DeleteThey kill 700 a night around here.
DeleteThey can be a terrible pest, and with no more hunting it can only get worse.
DeleteI had fried egg and bacon for tea last night. Bloody marvellous.
ReplyDeleteSimple is best. I'm still on a semi-diet, so for the moment bacon is banned here.
DeleteHear hear, Cro..and some hens lay blue eggs!!
ReplyDeleteIndeed they do.
DeleteMost of our eggs are free range because they're given to us by friends and neighbours. Very rare to see a white egg but I do have three in the fridge now and they stick out like sore thumbs. I'm sure they all taste the same....like eggs. Most of them are used in cooking though I do always have a few boiled on hand to cut up and use in a small snack plate as an accompaniment, with olives and cheese, with alcohol
ReplyDeleteWhite eggs stand out as being 'different'. I was quite surprised to see a big pile of them at market.
DeleteIs that VdP market?
ReplyDeleteYes, but not from the old boy who used to be there. I think he's given up. Shame, he was a lovely guy.
DeleteI always buy Clarence Court Burgord Brown free range eggs from Waitrose .... they are the best eggs if you don’t have your own chickens. They are so tasty and the yolks are the deepest orange. I used to buy the Cotswold Legbar but the Burford Brown are better. It’s funny how the brown shells are more appealing isn’t it , even though it doesn’t affect the flavour ? I’m sure we only had white shells when I was a child. XXXX
ReplyDeleteThat’s Burford Brown ! My eyes haven’t woken up yet !!!! XXXX
DeleteThey do have an old-fashioned look about them; we've all become so used to our eggs being (artificially) coloured dark brown.
DeleteI don't think I've ever (at least, consciously) bought eggs for their colour. Free-range, organic and not cracked is all I'm after.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear that. I'm ashamed to say that I can't claim the same. Those dark brown eggs always looked my way.
DeleteIt's all about pigment. My brown hens lay a variety of brown coloured eggs. I had no idea that eggs were artificially coloured. -Jenn
ReplyDeleteYou can choose the colour of your eggs from a chart. The colouring is mixed with the feed. It's dreadful.
DeleteFish-food companies give salmon farmers a chart of pinks to choose from. I never stopped to think that brown eggs were custom made, too. Funny that we gravitate to brown eggs. Here in Australia our butter is yellow by nature but in some countries, white is preferred.
DeleteLike people, you can’t tell the quality of an egg by its color.
ReplyDelete