Chicken eggs ... does it reeeeally matter?

[Stanley Stephan]

Ok, I've been on a tour of farmers markets in the bay area the past few weeks. I've had every organically raised, hormone free, free range egg you can think of. I've had those colored South American aricon eggs. Some of these farmers bring pictures of their chickens and practically have the name of each bird on the carton.

They all taste the same to me. I guess I'm ticked off today because I bought some eggs today that were on one of those "best of SF" type lists. Supposed to have a brilliant yellow yolk. Suuure they do. Tasted like an egg to me.

At one market there was one cool farmer who said his pastel blue and green eggs (the type Martha Stewart is always trotting out) just had a different color shell. No different taste, although he rolled his eyes and said some of his regular customers thought there was a better taste. "Just taste like any fresh egg", he said.

So my theory is that no matter what the darn chicken eats, the egg will taste the same. Anyone notice a difference?

[Fritz]

Hi Stanley. With regard to fresh produce, my own preference is to support organic farmers because I like to reward their efforts, not necessarily because the produce tastes any better. There might be a better taste for organic produce but I don't notice it much, but the farmer who avoids all of the chemical farming practices gets a vote from me in the form of a purchase as long as the price is relatively acceptable. When it comes to harvesting chicken eggs, I think the farmers you mentioned are perhaps offering consumers a choice whether to buy from mass producers who supposedly brutalize chickens in tiny cages, etc, or buy from farmers who treat chickens much better. I haven't quite got to the point where I feel that I need to buy only free range chicken eggs. I think you are right that there is not much difference in taste.

[Stanley Stephan]

I only buy organic eggs myself for the same reason. However, I can taste the diffeence in the chicken meat itself depending on the chiken's diet. There's more flavor. I'm just surprised that the eggs don't have some difference as well based on what mom ate and mom's pedigree/type.

The egg man at the market today sort of surprised me. The eggs were sitting on a table unrefrigerated. One guy asked how long they could go without refrigeration. The egg man says three weeks. The entire crowd jockeying for their eggs are nodding their heads in agreement.

The egg guy starts going on about how these are free range chickens and you don't have to worry. They start talking about how supermarket eggs have some sort of coating applied ... I would have stayed, but I was in a race to beat the parking police from ticketing my car (peskier and more frequent than mosquitoes in this area).

Anyway one woman is telling how she kept the eggs on a boat for six months. I mean, this is Berkeley, California. These are people who freak out if you even mention pesticides near the organic veggies. Yet everyone seems to think that a natural egg can be left uncooled for an unatural amount of time.

[butterfly]

I can't tell much difference between different chicken eggs, either.

But a few weeks back I bought some duck eggs at a farmers market here in DC. I wouldn't say they tasted better, but they really did taste different--more rich and with a somewhat sweeter flavor.

[john farago]

i can't say i'm sure of this, but i think i have noticed a difference between eggs at the extremes -- that is between an egg still warm from being collected that morning, or perhaps a day or so older, versus eggs that are weeks old

the difference i think i've tasted is largely in texture and something i'd call oiliness of the yolk

by texture i'm mostly talking about the separateness of yolk from white (how much effort it takes to emulsify the yolk in scrambling the egg), how much the white holds its own in cooking, how much the membrane around theyolk resists tearing

by oiliness i mean that extremely fresh eggs (which by their nature tend to come from very local chickens) have a stronger yolk-y flavor and sort of roll around on the tongue more

the difference seems intensified by the presence of butter

if this is true, then i suspect that there is more difference, oddly, when eggs are an ingredient than when they are the core of the dish itself, because how well they emulsify and what their texture is like will affect, say, a cake more than it will affect the taste of a couple of fried eggs

or am i just kidding myself?

[Laughing Goddess]

When I was in Ireland last summer, I was amazed by how great the eggs tasted. The first morning there, I had poached eggs on toast, and I kept wondering what they did to the eggs to make them taste so good -- sort of a rich, lobster-y taste, somehow. Took me a minute or two to realize they didn't *do* anything to the eggs -- the chickens just ate better, weren't full of antibiotics and hormones. Same thing with butter and milk and cheese... richer.

Anybody have specifics about the differences between Irish and American farming practices?

[Pat Hammond]

I've been pondering this, since I got back from England, where I ate A LOT of eggs that certainly tasted better than those I eat here. I don't know if this is true in Ireland, but every where I went (even my daughter-in-law's kitchen)I noticed the eggs are kept out, unrefrigerated. I wonder if that's a factor. You know, the way refrigerating fresh tomatoes ruins their flavor?
 

[muD]

With the tomato it is a specific chemical that breaks down. When eggs are contaminated with salmonella it will be growing on the outside of the shell, so leaving them out is inviting incubation. From everything I've read (my friend bought a hobby farm and we read up on raising poultry) time from bird to mouth is the key to taste. Feed and breed have little to do with it.

[Abbylovi]

I had a fresh duck egg in Ireland and was stunned by the richness as well. Though I'm not sure if this is always the case with duck eggs.

[john clark]

I may be kidding myself but I think that the eggs I have been getting from local farmers have a richer flavor than store-bought. My wife agrees.

[Ellen]

There are two things that appeal to me.
1. The eggs from farmers markets are usually fresher than from supermarkets and do have more flavor and texture (i.e., richer as others haved noted)
2. I prefer to take antibiotics only when I am sick and I am avoiding hormones until menopause strikes. If a farmer can give me eggs without them, then I will gladly pay more for their product.
3. Finally, I like supporting the family farmer as opposed to agribusiness that doesn't care what the food tastes like or what they put in it, they're just
counting on us to buy it because its cheap.
I guess that's three reasons.

[Sandy]

Just make some mayonnaise (blender or otherwise) using big brown eggs from scratching chickens (sometimes known as free range, although I have my doubts about some of the "free range" practices). You'll be amazed at the difference in richness.

I will readily admit to using the supermarket brown eggs for general purposes, but for mayo I hunt up the free range, or, better yet, find someone who has a small flock. I never use white eggs, since they seem to have a lot of water in them.

[SLRossi]

Mother-in-law has chickens, and the eggs she brings us have a much darker yolk (the color really carries too when using in a recipie), and have a much richer flavor that I notice when eating over easy or in some simple prep.

[flywheel]

I notice a huge difference in the taste of the eggs I get from the egg farm near where my parents live, vs. the eggs I buy in the store - and the eggs I buy in the store are always free range and organic. My conclusion is that freshness is the key.

[Dennison]

This discussion of chicken eggs leads to a lot of very interesting observations about the foods that we eat and just how our food-producing animals are raised. Much has been made about the horrors of commercial production methods of poultry and eggs, and this has contributed greatly to a large and profitable “alternative” market that gives consumers a choice other than supermarket brands. Among the stated reasons is “better taste”, but as others have posted, there are other issues involved.

Not too long ago, most of our eggs were produced in small farms, where chickens and hens (along with other meat animals) were pasture raised. What this meant is that they ate grass, insects and whatever else they could scavenge, supplemented by some feed (grain, corn, whatever). Prior to World War II, the vast majority of American farms would meet today’s “organic” standards. The end of the war saw the conversion of our wartime nitrogen factories into synthetic fertilizer producers, resulting quickly in a boom in grain production. This is when a huge change occurred in the way we raise our food – cows and chickens were converted into grain-eaters, which they naturally are not. Our national beef production soared, leading to a dramatic oversupply of beef (and the subsequent rapid growth of cheap fast food joints) as well as beef tallow (which was used for years to cook fast food fries). Someone at that point decided to start using all this excess animal protein to raise more animals. Many don’t realize that commercial chicken feed today commonly contains both beef fat and ground up chicken. The fundamental nature of the egg has changed as a result – it became a high-cholesterol food, in the same manner that beef became much more marbled and artery-clogging. Anyone who tries grass-fed beef is astonished at the difference.

The latest trend in greenmarkets across the country are eggs produced by pastured hens, sometimes fed a supplemental diet of flax to increase Omega-3 fatty acids. Personally, I get eggs from pastured hens, and I’m extremely happy with their taste as well as the way they are produced. Admittedly, the metaphysical nature of food is as important to me as the taste, so if that makes me not a chowhound so be it. Thankfully, a good fresh greenmarket egg is markedly richer and more flavorful than one from the supermarket. That said, I have my doubts about whether an “organic” supermarket egg has any discernable taste difference from the commercially-raised one in the carton next to it.

[Abbylovi]

About a month ago I visited Jonathan White's Boblink Dairy. He spent the afternoon giving us a tour of his farm and gave us a cheese making demonstration.

Afterwards he started making pizzas in his wood oven, topped with variations of cheese, sausages, Bobolink chicken eggs cracked on top, etc. What impressed me most were his eggs. The chickens roam the property eating their chickeny-natural diet of maggots, mosquitoes, cast away bread from the oven and whatever else the find. I have never seen an egg so intensely orange/yellow and tasting so purely egg. I've had eggs from farmer's markets and organic eggs from grocery stores and nothing comes close.

I ate them in the most pure form I could: unadorned, sunnyside up with a little sprinkling of salt. Some of the people I went with also made mayo, egg salad and reported incredible results.

[Missy P.]

Maybe there's not a ton of difference between the quality of the various kinds of eggs you've tried at the farmers' markets. But go buy some eggs at Albertson's (the cheapest ones you can find) and then compare.

Of course, this won't help you in figuring out the very best farmers' market source, but it'll sure make you glad that you're buying fresh, organic eggs. There is a *huge* difference.

[bunnyr]

Maybe in other parts of the country there is no difference, but up here in southern NH there is a huge difference between the eggs you buy at a local Nashua supermarket, and the free-range hen eggs one buys up in rural country. The yolk is indeed stronger, the whites thicker, and the taste more up front.