Eggs - Farm Fresh or Commercial? [General]

2010 Feb 27
Hi all,

I've been reading a lot about eggs lately and wonder just how much difference there is between farm fresh (from those bug-eating, free-roaming, fun-loving hens) and commercial eggs. I use eggs mostly in recipes, with the occasional fried egg sandwich.

I guess I should probably have an egg taste-test, which brings me to my next question ...

Where do you buy your farm fresh eggs? I understand one must almost know the secret handshake to gain access to the real stuff.

GB


2010 Feb 27
Personally I find a huge difference. First, the colour of the yolk is much brighter and yellow, and not a dull pale colour, and you just cannot compare the taste. As to where to get them, that I am interested in as well. I have only been able to acquire some from friends of friends the odd time.


2010 Feb 27
I find the farm fresh eggs have brighter yolks and a richer taste. I also find the whites whip up better.
I buy Bekings eggs and thank myself for it every round of brioche I bake and pasta I roll. I get them at Natural Food Pantry.

2010 Feb 27
The bland eggs I've been eating for the past week at the Holiday Inn in Yuma (Arizona) had the brightest, most fluorescent (think highlighter marker) yellow yolks I've ever seen. Back in Ottawa today, I enjoyed an over-easy Beking's egg for breakfast and the flavour was way better. The Bekings eggs have a darker, more orange yolk, which is in line with my experience of farm-fresh eggs.

So if by "brighter" y'all mean "darker, more orange" then I agree! ;-)

2010 Feb 28
Colour of the egg yolk can be darkened by using additives in the hen's feed.
Usually carotenoid is used. Another common additives for the hen's feed is Omega 3 fatty acid.

2010 Feb 28
I'm pretty sure Bekings are not the scratching, bug-eating variety of egg.

2010 Feb 28
“So if by “brighter" y'all mean "darker, more orange" then I agree! ;-)“

That is what I meant. just didn't explain it very well :)

2010 Feb 28
I am no expert and have not checked info but I have been told that chickens who have more greens in the diet produce brighter, yellow yolks (which "could" have more nutritional value). I purchase Beking's eggs--if nothing else, the yolks stand up and they taste just great fine to me.

2010 Mar 4
Ever since I saw an expose on tv news show about commercial eggs being repackaged under a later expiry date, I have a tough time buying commercial. Organic or otherwise. I have been 100% spoiled by a family member's farm eggs...though all of their chickens have been killed by the evil local fox (mmmm...tastes like chicken!) so I am left without any fresh eggs. Woe is me!

Woops...forgot to mention that I would never had thought that the fresh eggs would taste SO far beyond amazing like they do. There is no comparison.

2010 Dec 1
I'm bringing this up because our regular supplier of eggs is going into "the slow time" and, as a result, cannot keep up with demand.

Is Beking's still considered the best bet for super-fresh, high-quality eggs that are available without knowing a secret handshake?

Note that, for my purposes, I'm distinguishing quality based on yolk colour and white consistency. Orange yolks and thick whites, please :)

2010 Dec 1
I hadn't really thought about this before. Maybe I'll get Cochrane's to deliver a dozen next time they bring my milk by and see if I can taste a difference. They say they have farm fresh eggs on their delivery chart. Yep. Farm fresh (locally produced), $2.70/dozen.

Yes, I get my milk delivered to my door.
Every week.
In bottles.
:P

2010 Dec 2
Cedars grocery store, often I saw they have Becking's eggs, but some smaller size ones at $2.79 a dozen.
The packaging is not as "fancy" as the bigger eggs, that have a colored coarton.
These ones the carton just has black print on it.
I do not eat tons of eggs,so I don't mind smaller ones.

2010 Dec 2
Momomoto Bekings eggs are the only fresh eggs (as opposed to grocery store eggs) that I buy because they are so widely available. Aubreys carries them year round as well as the Herb and Spice on Bank. (I'm pretty sure the Herb on Wellington carries them as well.) I noticed a new stall at the Lansdowne farmers market this summer selling eggs from Reinink Farms. There is a little more information about the farm here: openfarms.ca I never got around to trying them this year so I can't comment on the freshness/quality of the eggs.

2010 Dec 2
Thanks for your vote of confidence. We've been buying Bekings to replace our original ones, so it's good to know that we're on the right track! If we can find Reinink ones we'll give them a whirl, too.

2010 Dec 2
The 'darker' or 'deeper' the yolk, the better the eggs. The deep orangy yellow comes from all the greens that the hens are eating.

In a true pasture raised hen egg you should see some variation over the span of a year in the egg. A summer egg should have that deep orange coloured, rich flavoured yolk. Moving towards fall and winter, the yolk will be paler, even if the hens get hay.

Regardless of time of year, a fresh egg should have a 'proud' yolk, and a thick white. So, the yolk should be way higher than the white. And the white will have a really thick glob (sorry, bad word choice perhaps) of clear white and a slightly smaller amount of runny white. The older the egg, the flater the yolk and the runnier the white. (a cloudy or opaque white just means the white was below a certain temperature, and is not a quality or freshness issue. Maybe the hen house or your fridge was cooler than normal.)

A good test of a fresh egg is this: You should easily be able to separate the yolk from the white in your hand WITHOUT breaking the yolk. The yolk you should also be able to toss back and forth in your hands without it breaking. not all day mind, but for a few throws or more at least! The whites should whip into stiff peaks in a few seconds, not a few minutes.

And another great test of a fresh egg is boil it. If it's impossible to peel, it's fresh. We leave our eggs on the counter for at least three weeks if we want to make deviled eggs. Otherwise we can't peel them.

And yes, farmers with pasturing hens have less eggs this time of year. With lighting in a coop to extend the day when they come in to roost at dark, you can encourage a hen to lay past what nature tells it to, but not to the same production levels as you might get in the spring or summer.

I guess it all should encourage us to think more seasonally with our cooking. Use those dark yolked eggs in the summer for special dishes, focus on dishes that use more whites in the winter.

2010 Dec 5
Thanks for the egg update!

2010 Dec 6
Lavergnes butcher on navan road sells farm eggs. I always forget to get them there I go for meat and have a dozen in the fridge already so I cant really report on them but they are such a good butcher with local stuff I cant imagine these are factory farm eggs.