Let’s Talk About Eggs

I love eggs. They are my favorite breakfast food and a great inexpensive source of protein. They are also incredibly versatile. You can boil them, scramble them, fry them, use them as a filling ingredient of casseroles, make an omelet,  add them to salads, use them in soup (egg drop soup anyone?), or hard boil them and take them as a portable snack.

Oh, and they are really yummy too. I was scared away from eggs a bit several decades ago when they were supposedly bad for you and it wasn’t recommended that you eat more than 2 eggs per week. Thankfully all that turned out to be a myth and I know enjoy an average of 2 eggs per day.

While I was visiting my family in Germany this year, I got a chance to hang out with a distant cousin. She and her family raise their own chickens (both egg producers and some grown for meat), ducks, geese, turkeys and goats. They do all of this on a tiny little farm on the outskirts of town. It’s a part-time gig for her, her parents and siblings to get the freshest food possible. She was kind enough to send a dozen eggs back with me. I LOVED those fresh eggs. The yolks were a nice deep orange and the eggs tasted incredibly good. They were also a lot more filling than regular eggs.

After coming back home, I tried hard to find farm fresh eggs. I started with an internet search, but all sources were at least a 45 minute drive away. I even looked into the possibility of getting a few chickens, but sadly it’s not allowed where we currently live. I finally found a great source at my local farmers market. Not only will I be able to get them there every Wednesday, but also have the contact info to get more throughout the rest of the week.

If you haven’t had farm fresh eggs before, please give them a try.

Eggs from hens raised on pasture have:

• 1/3 less cholesterol
• 1/4 less saturated fat
• 2/3 more vitamin A
• 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids
• 3 times more vitamin E
• 7 times more beta carotene source

Another thing you will only find with farm raised eggs is double yolks. So far I haven’t come across any, but from what I hear they are the prize you want to win. I found an interesting post about double yolks on a great blog called Fresh-Eggs-Daily.com. Lisa, the blogger is a 5th generation chicken keeper and really knows her stuff. She’s also an incredible photographer.

Take a look at this egg sizing chart picture from her post about what causes double yolks.

Her post is a very interesting read. Only 1 in 1000 eggs will have a double yolk.

A double-yolked egg occurs when two egg yolks are released into a hen’s oviduct too close together and end up encased within the same shell.  

Head on over to Free Eggs Daily and read all about double yolks and her chicken Annie who’s been laying a few double yolkers.

Last but not least, I’d love to know how you feel about eggs. Have you tried farm fresh ones? What’s your favorite way to eat them?