Eggs: Country Fresh in the Big City
I grew up in the suburbs. Chicken comes cut up and wrapped in plastic; and eggs are white, and packed by the dozen in cartons.
Brown eggs? Gross! Clearly diseased.
Or so I thought. When we moved to Paris, one of my big adjustments was that all the eggs were brown. With big 
orange yolks. And not refrigerated. All of them. At the marchés and the grocery stores. Hmmm….who knew? And often times they were fresh from the chicken: meaning unwashed. Gross. But, over the years, this became normal. I even spent one frantic day with bff J searching all over Paris to find a few white eggs that we could color for her childrens’ Easter baskets: yes, we finally found 6. They were expensive.
Moi tip: I was attending a cooking class in Paris with a group of other American expats. We were separating eggs for the recipe, and bien sur, someone broke the yolk. Naturally, l’Américaine dipped her eggshell into the bowl to scoop out the yolk. Le Chef was horrified! These were typical unwashed fresh eggshells: covered with nasty chicken poop (sorry!) We Americans are used to the sanitized eggs we buy at the supermarket, the shells are white and sparkly clean. We were immediately instructed to discard the now ruined bowl of eggs. And in the future, remove yellow bits with a spoon. Good to know.
Now that I’m back in the US, do I buy white eggs at the grocery? Mais non! TBG and I buy our eggs from Knoll Crest Farm at the bi-weekly Greenmarket on Broadway outside Columbia University. And of course, they’re brown eggs (but lightly washed, we’re assured). And they have the bright orange yolks, just like we had in Paris.
The incredible, edible egg!
10 comments
Have you found any eggs with bright orange yolks in Chicago?
Why are they ‘presented’ one way or the other – any explanaton and what about the ‘quality’ of brown vs. white. Price, content, quality ???
Guten Morgen Carla, wie gehts!
When I’m in Chicago I’m very lucky to be only 1 mile from the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Lincoln Park, which on Saturdays holds the Chicago Green City Market year round http://www.chicagogreencitymarket.org/ . I just hop on the 151 bus outside my door, and I’m there in minutes, or its an easy 15 minute walk.
Also in Lincoln Park, as well as 20 other locations in Chicago, are the Chicago Farmers Markets May – October http://www.chicagofarmersmarkets.us . I actually haven’t been to this one, but my daughter has and I’ve sample some of the baked goods sold their, I’m not sure if they sell eggs.
TBG loves his eggs, so we’re always shopping for good fresh eggs!
ciao
Hi QM
For my money, whatever the price of a dozen good eggs, its worth it. I know in the suburban mega-grocery stores I can sometimes buy a dozen for $.99. A bargain, but… If I pay $4 for a dozen farm fresh eggs, that’s still only $.33 per egg: what a deal!
Different breeds of hen lay different colors of eggs. I think the taste of brown eggs is better than that of white eggs. But from what I’ve been told, white eggs could taste as good, if the breeder raises them without hormones, with more natural feed and in healthier environments.
As a rule, I try to avoid those foods that have the most hormones: milk, eggs, chicken and farmed fish. So I buy organic milk at the grocery, wild chicken and fish at specialty stores, and fresh, hormone free brown eggs at the farmers market. (I also buy A LOT of chicken, turkey, and fish at the farmers market.)
At the grocery we usually buy cage-free, vegetarian, or organic eggs: none of this is USDA regulated. My goal is to avoid all the hormones and bacteria that are found in caged, mass-produced eggs.
So even though I’m not an egg expert when I talk to the farmer, take them home and eat them, and I know how good they taste, I try to stay with that farmer.
At the mega-grocery stores, I’ve recently been convinced that WalMart is giving Whole Foods a run for its money for fresh, organic, locally grown produce. As I don’t live near a WalMart I don’t have first-hand knowledge of this, but there has been a lot of media coverage devoted to this, so…
Sadly, its still caveat emptor: let the buyer beware. But I’m sticking with my farmers market brown eggs.
You can now raise up to six hens in your backyard in CoMo. I’m hoping my neighbors will take advantage of this and deliver excess fresh eggs to my doorstep!
LL:
maybe you should talk to the CoMo Welcome Lady and inform her of this new reg: she could include chicks in her Welcome Basket!
bon app!
After 10 years in Europe, I’m now stunned when I see shiny white eggs in the Supermarket – they look so WRONG! Enjoyed this post!
T
The reason you don’t wash fresh eggs is that you wash away the protective coating ( I’m not meaning the chicken poop) that keeps the eggs fresh. You can wash them as needed.
Now all this talk about eggs is making me hungry for bacon and eggs!
From an Okie who wishes she had some fresh eggs at the moment!
Also, there is even a hen that lays colored eggs – pastel colors and all 100% natural nothing added to produce the colors. Pinks, blues, greens beautiful and tasty!
PPS. The brighter orange the yolk the fresher…………..
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