That question recently came up among a group of women near and dear to my heart. With so many hens molting, the fresh eggs were becoming few and far between in many of our coops. That is when I realized that yes, yes indeed, I say it proudly, I am an egg snob.
Don’t get me wrong, for years I ate store eggs. I didn’t know any better. To me an egg was an egg. But then we had our own girls and trust me, an egg is not just an egg and here is why (in my opinion.)
First, I KNOW where my eggs come from. I sometimes even hear them being laid! If you have chickens, you know that “oh my” squawk when a hen lays an egg. I know what my hens have been eating. And very important to me, I know my girls have a wonderful life. They do not just sit in a pen, popping out eggs.
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| Beautiful dark chocolate eggs laid by French Black Copper Marans. Photo from Chicken Scratch Poultry. |
Second, are the eggs themselves. They taste better. The yolks are darker. And the shells are beautiful! Plain boring white eggs are a thing of the past for us. We love the browns and blues we get. We are even considering breeds to add to the flock depending on what their eggs look like, like these beautiful dark chocolate colored eggs!
Third, the things that you may not know about store eggs. Did you know that the packed date on store eggs can legally be up to 30 days AFTER the eggs are laid? The sell by date has to be legally no later then 30 days after the eggs were packaged! So you could be bringing home eggs that are already 2 months old! Yuck! No wonder fresh eggs taste so much better.
I am not the only one who thinks fresh eggs taste better. In a recent taste test done by America’s Test Kitchen,
“In our taste tests, farm-fresh eggs were standouts. The large yolks were shockingly orange
and their flavor was exceptionally rich and complex. The organic eggs followed in second
place, with eggs from hens raised on a vegetarian diet in third, and the standard supermarket
eggs last.”
So in the end, being an egg snob is a good thing, a very good thing. Now don’t get me wrong, once a year we do buy store eggs. Why? To color for Easter. So I guess there is still one reason to buy store eggs. But for my family’s table, it fresh eggs or no eggs. And trust me, during molting time, no eggs is a real possibility. But that just makes them taste even better when the girls do start laying again!
So, are you an eggs snob?
Yes ! Most definitely an egg snob. I would rather go without than buy a store bought egg.
Absolutely! As you know, I feel bad for the people in the grocery store buying eggs! We must have our standards after all. Good job on the post
Yes! I am an egg snob. I have 9 chickens and since they have been laying we love the fresh yard eggs!!
yes, I love my eggs. I have 11 chickens, and my girls love it when I come out in the yard. I go in the area, I hold some, we talk, and I always thank them for the eggs. Some I have given names to, and they lay great tasting eggs.
Yes, I've become an egg snob since getting my 7 girls. Their eggs are delicious and I don't know if I could ever go back to store bought eggs. And as a bonus, I grind up the egg shells and give to my dog in him home cooked meals for his calcium…win/win! 🙂
Guilty as charged. And proud of it!
I am an egg snob too! I also want to add some Maran for the dark brown egg color. However, I have not bought eggs (even to color for Easter) for over two years! I found out that if you color brown eggs you get deeper shades of colored eggs. They turn out beautiful! Last Easter our eggs were gorgeous! I wish I could post a picture!
Yep, haven't bought eggs at the store for almost 2 years!
Guilty here. I am an egg snob!
Oh yes I AM!!!…and I laughed a little when I read that you sometime choose a variety based on color. I have Black Copper Marans and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE seeing that chocolate brown egg in my basket.
And oooooh to Wendy. I hadn't thought of the Easter dying. The grandchildren will love the different colors they get with the variety here.
Yes!!! Egg collecting time is my fave time of day! I ALWAYS THANK MY GIRLS!!I ALSO TELL THEM HOW PRETTY THEY ARE! They fluff up when I say it. Lol.
Yes! I'm an egg snob too 🙂 I love having my own chickens! I would love to have you share this on Wildcrafting Wednesdays!
http://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre.com/2012/12/wildcrafting-wednesday.html
Oh yes! and proud! (visiting from farmgirlfriday) http://www.mossytrees.blogspot.com
I am an egg snob too! We just started raising chickens this past spring, we have 17 girls and have been getting eggs now since October. I will never buy store eggs again.
It is so nice to know I am in good company when it comes to being an egg snob!!!!
I just found your website/blog and I think I've read about all of it, this was the last one to read. And I printed out every recipe except Bacon Bark, I only like bacon with my farm fresh eggs! I love your site 🙂 Yesssss, I am an egg snob too! those yucky store eggs just don't cut it with me! We even eat eggs for dinner they are so good 🙂
Another proud egg snob here! No way I would buy store bought anymore.
Yep, guilty as charged. As for picking chicken for their egg color, yes we do that as well. We have five girls and we would like to get two more, would love a copper marans and a barred rock. We also pick chickens for their productivity, egg size, temperament and their appearance. We get an abundance of eggs from our girls. It is just the two of us, so when we get a bit more than we need, we donate the excess to our local food share, or share them with our neighbors.
Farm fresh, free range eggs taste so much better than store bought and our girls are so happy. They are also so very entertaining for us. We love to watch them. The more I read about factory chickens, the sadder I feel for them. I wish I could wave a magic wand and make all these egg factories illegal and all the chickens happy little free rangers. 🙂
I grew up on farm eggs – lived on a real farm. Finally, after 20 years as an adult, we once again have chickens. My daughters will grow up with real eggs, too. It is more than just knowing what goes into the egg. For my people girls, it's them knowing that eggs come from chickens and that food comes with a price – of labor and animal. I'm proud to be an egg snob and I hope that someday my daughters will grow up to be one, too!
LOL Well, I like our eggs better, but we eat a LOT of eggs, so when my hens were molting in the late fall, and then during winter, we bought from the store. I can't go five months without eggs. Now that the days are getting longer, we're up to about 13 eggs a day, so we're okay. Hopefully this will be the last year that we don't have enough eggs in the winter.
I simply can not stand the taste of store eggs LOL But I understand five months is a long time to go without!