Labels on eggs in the grocery store can be pretty confusing. First, you can buy the standard eggs. Grocery stores also have what they are labeling “free range” and “organic.” You need to start by asking, what access do the chickens have to scratch and eat bugs and green stuff?
Do you remember that golden glow on the mini pound cakes I made a few days ago? That’s not a trick of the camera. (I’m not that good with the camera.) Compare it with the egg yolk from my cast iron basics (fry pan) piece. That egg yolk has good color but not quite as striking as the one from the pound cake. Although both of these eggs came from pastured chickens, at this time of year they don’t get as many bugs and as much green stuff as they will as spring comes on, so neither one of them is as dramatic as the eggs you can get in late spring and early fall from pastured eggs. Now compare them to the eggs in your refrigerator. Are the yolks pale yellow?
That bright golden yolk indicates higher nutrition. Pastured chickens produce eggs with much higher levels of the good oils you find in fish, and they have much lower levels of cholesterol. Pasturing makes them less vulnerable to disease, so chances are pastured chickens never needed drugs to keep them healthy.
Do you want to find pastured eggs? You can look for eggs through a source like Locally Grown or Local Harvest, ask around, or call your county extension agent. I’ve heard some people think pastured eggs just taste better, but my palate isn’t that subtle. Instead, I like pastured eggs because they are better for me and my family. (That said, pastured chicken is like a taste of heaven! Surely their eggs taste better too.)
we adore our chickens and I agree with you-there is nothing like the color of a home-grown pastured chicken egg.
We are looking forward to getting our baby chicks over the next couple of weeks to add to the established hens. Can’t wait!
That sounds wonderful! What varieties of chickens do you raise?
We let ours have the run of the place unless we have creep feed out for the babies goats, the chickens eat it all.
Any idea how long is safe before collecting eggs? I try to collect every day but if I miss a day I usually toss the eggs, seems wasteful.
Also, am I the only one who washes the eggs before putting them in the fridge?
I might eat the egg after a day if it were me eating it (not for sale or served to company) and I knew I was cooking it all the way. In other words, I would not use an egg of undetermined, unrefrigerated age for my poached eggs where the yolk oozes out as liquid gold that I sop up with my toast. I’d use the egg of questionable age outside in a cake batter.
Unwashed eggs naturally have a protective coating on their shell that helps them last longer, so I don’t wash my eggs until I’m ready to use them. Commercial operations wash off their eggs in a chemical solution and then coat them with oil. I’d rather keep mine unwashed (they are permeable, after all) and then wash as I need them. They are good a lot longer that way. Joel Salatin has an entire chapter on unwashed eggs in his book Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal. As a self-proclaimed farm geek, you probably already have the book, but if not your local library may be able to get it.
I don’t have that book, yet! Thanks for the tip. I more geek than farm geek, I’m still learning.
It’s a cool book, but it gets a little repetitive–basically, the title says it all–so I’d go for the library if you can find it there. Regardless, something tells me you’ll appreciate it.
I collect my eggs ever two days. They can stay out of the fridge for at least 5 days. I do wash them in plain water and let them air dry before putting them in the fridge.
Welcome to the blog. Melba! As I understand it, the eggs have a natural coating from the hen (“bloom”) that is best left on until you’re ready to use them. I think even the journal Applied Microbiology looked at it. I’m curious about why you wash yours.