March 3, 2013

Fresh Eggs: Make the Switch!

Why did it take me so long to switch to fresh eggs? I'd been buying the "better" supermarket eggs for years--organic, vegetarian-fed, hormone-free, insert-buzzword-here. They were OK. Then, a few months ago, I cracked open my first fresh, local egg, one laid by a hen who got to scratch and peck at grass, and know sunshine. Holy huge difference.
rich orange yolk, pale yellow yolk
That first fresh egg tasted startlingly delicious, like no supermarket egg I'd ever eaten. It struck me that all eggs must have tasted that way to my grandparents when they were kids. It makes me a little mad to have been duped all these years into thinking that wan, flat, stale eggs were normal.

Of course, fresh eggs cost more: around six dollars a dozen versus around two dollars for a "conventional" dozen. (If you're buying the fancy shmancy supermarket eggs, you're only saving a dollar or two.)

Is it worth spending forty cents on an egg instead of twelve? Yeah. Yes. YES. (By the way, I hemmed and hawed over buying depleted old supermarket eggs to use for this photo. I rationalized it by thinking if I could get one person to switch to fresh eggs, it would be worth it. Then Lisa over at 100 Days of Real Food wrote about this exact same topic, photo-comparison included! It's in the air, people.)

When Darwin and I crack an egg, we've taken to saying, "thank you, chicken, for this egg." Corny, I know, but a fresh egg is a gift; it's even gold.

Where do yours come from?

9 comments:

  1. We live in the country so we get our eggs from neighbors and pay $2 a dozen. We also get fresh raw milk for only $4 a gallon. We're spoiled! Unfortunately we are moving and I'm worried about finding good egg and milk sources because I have, soon to be, six children. We go through 10 gallons of milk a week and probably 8 dozen eggs. There is no way we could afford that if we were paying $6 a dozen so we would just have to go without because I won't have the stuff from the grocery stores in my home.

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    1. Oh, that's a great deal! Six dollars a dozen is definitely not a fixed price, but it is what I pay at my farmer's market. You might be able to find a CSA in your new town that offers a better deal for the amount your family uses. Good luck!

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  2. We buy our eggs from a local farm. We buy them in bulk with a neighbor so that we can get a lower cost and split them. Because of that, I buy at least 8 dozen eggs at a time at $2.89 a dozen. I find that if I can spare the room in the fridge, they last very well. Right now the eggs are not as rich and orange because it's winter here in Virginia (I envy you for living in Florida!), but I look forward to those beauties in a few months!

    Did you know that eggs don't HAVE to be refrigerated? When I was growing up in Palestine, our eggs lived on top of our fridge.

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    1. That's a lot of eggs! I'm having visions of my mom's delicious custard.

      Yes, neat that they don't neat refrigeration, right? The farm I buy from doesn't refrigerate them, but I do store them in the fridge when I get home. Old habits die hard, I guess. :)

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  3. I've buyed organic cage-free eggs for years now.
    This week I've joined a group who buy from local farmer, and I'm getting a dozen of fresh organic eggs. Can't wait to ate them. :-)
    About price, here, in France, you paid around 4€ (~$5.2)for 6 organic eggs in a supermarket but with the group we're getting good prices I paid 4,5€ (~$5.8) for a dozen of fresh organic eggs !

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    1. Wow, that's pricey for organic supermarket eggs! Interesting to know. I bet you'll enjoy the fresh ones so much more.

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  4. I was never really an egg fan until I had fresh eggs from our neighbor that used to deliver her surplus eggs a few times. After tasting true fresh free range eggs I was sold and now have our own hens that give us about a dozen eggs a week.

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    1. Yes, it really is that big of a difference, isn't it? I'd love to have my own hens someday. Very cool. :)

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