Good Eggs

My hens lay the best tasting eggs. My ten "girls" eat high quality feed, table scraps, and bugs and weeds in season. They have room to roam, they live in a socially stable flock (each girl has a best friend), and they appear happy and busy all day. All of this comes through in their eggs! Freshness matters, and since I collect the eggs twice a day and put them right into the refrigerator, the eggs from my small flock are as fresh as they come. But, even if these eggs aren't used for several weeks, they are still far superior to standard commercial eggs. My hens' eggs have a deep, rich flavor, with no metallic or fishy taste. The yolks are a bright sunny yellow and the whites barely spread when cracked into a pan. This is what I call a "Farmstead Egg."

Keeping hens is fun and I encourage you to go to my Chicken Keeping Web page to find out more. But, if you have to buy your eggs, you can still get very good ones. Farmers' markets and farmstands often have eggs from local, pasture-raised hens. These hens are able to spend their days outside on grass and dirt. These are the best. Go to American Pastured Poultry Association for a producer near you.

Your next option is to shop at a supermarket or natural food store. Chickens fed high-quality feed have better tasting eggs. An organic label is assurance that the chickens were fed well. Some chickens are given a special diet so that their eggs have nutritional benefits, like lower cholesterol; this information is also on the label.

However, neither organic nor "nutritional" eggs are guaranteed to come from hens in stress-free environments. "Cage-free" is a term you'll see on some packages. All this means is that the hens are housed in a barn and not in small wire crates. "Cage-free" conditions are often (though not always) crowded and stressful. I believe that this is detrimental to flavor. So, shop around and try eggs from different producers. I guarantee that you'll taste the difference.