In search of freshly laid eggs

With the farmer's markets yet to open, I was wondering if anyone knew of a source for freshly laid eggs. We went to visit the in-laws in Missouri a few weekends ago, and the markets have already opened down there if only to remind me that eggs eaten the week they are laid are vastly better than eggs eaten beyond that point (unless you are looking for hard cooked eggs - fresh eggs don't harden well).

Any thoughts would be appreciated. I'm targeting mother's day brunch for consumption.

Keep eating,
J. Ro

J.Ro,

I've been thinking along similar lines of late and so, let me add my voice to the plea. Where are high quality, fresh free range eggs regularly available in town?

Antonius

Terragusto - the pasta shop on Addison everyone keeps talking about regularly sells their fresh eggs. They are ~$4/dozen and are a beautiful rainbow of colors. I have not bought them, but the egg dishes I've eaten there have been delicious.

This is slightly off-topic, but I'm going to raise an issue that has simmered in my febrile brain for oh! so long.

Back in The Day, when I owned a vineyard and winery and had a nice chicken ranch (!) next door, I was able to get eggs still warm from the factory. Now that's FRESH.

But, you know what? freshness didn't seem to be the issue. My Egg Lady next door fed her chickens Chicken Chow (or whatever), the scientifically designed food to give the hen exactly the precise amount of whatever to make the egg complete, and the shell just hard enough to stay intact during the marketing process. But there wasn't much egginess to it. Looked good in the pan: erect, nice clean whites, etc. But not much eggy taste.

Then a buddy started hawking eggs by the dozen from some friend of his. I couldn't always get them w/in a few days of production--sometimes it was a week. But DAMN! these were Good Eggs. So I asked 'hey! what is going on?' and my buddy's friend told me the following.

Eggs' flavor is entirely dependent on the chicken's diet. Give chickens Chicken Chow, and the eggs don't taste eggy. On the other hand, let the chickens eat bugs, dirt, other stuff found in the road, and Wallah! [as my students spell it], you've got good-tasting eggs.

I sort of tested this. I bought 'free-range' eggs of hens limited to good healthy vegetarian diets. Non-tasty eggs. So I bought 'free-range' eggs of your genuine free-range chickens. In other words, this latter band of chickens ate bugs, dirt, and the other stuff found in the road.

Bingo! The eggs tasted like eggs.

Soooo, I ultmately concluded that it ain't the freshness, it's the diet, that makes the tasty egg.

Now, admittedly, my sample-size N is small, and I (most likely) was predisposed to my conclusion. Which means that I am quite open to being persuaded that it's vapors in my mind that have convinced me of my conclusion. Any thoughts?

Geo
PS. M. le captain des oeufs in the Marché Jean-Talon no longer can seel eggs from "poulets qui ont la liberté" -- truly free-ranging chickens have been interdit since about 2 months ago bcz of fear re: bird flu. Sigh.

Interesting anecdote about the difference between freshness and diet in terms of flavor. Although the sample size and methods lack a certain scientific rigor, I'm sure there's at least a kernel of truth to it, probably (the same unpopped popcorn kernel that you feed to the chickens to get that flavor). In my own admittedly limited experience, the thing about fresh eggs is the texture (and the color!) that I crave as much as the flavor, though the flavor humbles the supermarket eggs. I'm sure there's some science to this, but I have it on good authority from my friend with chickens that you should not attempt a quiche with eggs younger than 10 days laid, lest you want to eat your quiche with a straw.

Anyway, as for the task at hand, I will try Terragusto and report back. They claim to make their pasta with the "world's best eggs", so if said eggs are for sale separately from the pasta, we might be in business.

Keep eating,

J. Ro

Terragusto
1851 W. Addison Street
773-248-2777

Strange that I should be reading this, as my nephew and I spent part of today looking for some young laying hens to keep in the coop in the backyard. A few years ago I had about 20 or so chickens out back--many of them bantam and ornamental types--and we enjoyed the fresh eggs very much. The only thing I will do differently this time is to not get any roosters. Too much racket in the mornings! But the hens were amazing, producing eggs day after day.

I'm just looking for about 3 young, standard-size hens and I live in the far south suburbs. Anyone know where I could find some nearby?? (I figure it can't hurt to ask.)

Terragusto gets their eggs from:

Country Cottage Farms
3S407 4th St
Warrenville, IL 60555
630-836-1620


Osage Acres - In addition to pastured laying hens, they grow fruits and vegetables using organic practices.
21436 E. 240 N. Rd
Fairbury, IL
309-377-2019
Brent Scherr

I know that Henry's Farms, which sets up at Evanston's farmers market starting the 20th, has eggs. I am on their e-mail list, and they have sporatically offered people the opportunity to order eggs for pick-up at The Land Connection office in Evanston. You may find info at The Land Connection website - http://www.thelandconnection.org - or you could just e-mail Terra Brockman, who runs the Land Connection directly at terra@brockmanfarms.net to see how you can get your hands on them.

From the Fox & Obel March 2006 Foodletter:

If you’ve been to Green City Farmers Market, you’ve probably tried the farm fresh eggs from Country Cottage Farms in Fisher, Illinois. Now they're available at Fox and Obel, too. Our dairy department is teeming with these farm-fresh, nest-laid eggs that come from humanely treated, free-range chickens. Of course, no hormones are used. You can easily taste the difference in flavor that only a truly fresh egg can make.

Not sure how the price will compare to Terragusto but may or may not be more convenient for you.

I stopped in at Terragusto on my way to work this morning and yes, they surely do have eggs that are sourced from country cottage farms as described above. They received a large delivery the previous day, and advised me not to be concerned about the date on the end of the carton because the cartons are re-used (and not re-dated). Since the date was April 5, 2005, I tend to believe them.

Their eggs have a two-tier pricing structure - brown eggs are $4.50/dozen, green eggs (from Aracana (sp?) hens) are $5.00/dozen. While I don't generally approve of this two-tiered price structure, I nonetheless fell for it and paid the double premium to get the green eggs - I think they will look lovely soft-boiled alongside our mother's day brunch.

As for their freshness, flavor, and texture, time will reveal.

Thank you everyone for the advice.

Keep eating,
J. Ro

J. Ro--

Congrats on your successful quest. And do keep us posted on your tasting trials.

One question--did they tell you anything about what the chickens *eat*? I've found egg carton descriptions which claimed that its chickens were both "free range" and "vegetarian", which strikes me as either contradictory or wildly implausible. It would be interesting to see what gives with your eggs' chickens.

Geo

The eggs I've seen sold at Green City run for $3/doz for pullet eggs and $4/doz for regular adult hen eggs.

I recently moved out to Hampshire, IL and you can find fresh eggs (along with honey and asparagus) at a number of local farms. Most stands are just off the road, you drive in, pick-out your eggs and put your money in the collection box. No one is opertaing the stand it is all on the honor system.

You'll find farm fresh chicken and duck eggs at the Green City Market which opens in a few days on Wednesday, May 17. There are usually several suppliers and you can ask about freshness and diet of the hens. Osage Acres and Country Cottage are 2 of the several suppliers.

You can also get goose eggs in addition to chicken and duck eggs from Rolling Goose in Loda, IL. The usually don't attend the Green City Market personally but will send some up with another vendor.

Rolling Goose
855 N. 1800 E. Rd
Loda, IL 60948
Christopher Blunt
217-390-8006

I agree that some eggs just taste better than others. I thought that the eggs in Florence, Italy were tastier and more colorful than the eggs in the U.S. I had simple hard boiled eggs and the yolks were a beautiful sunrise orange compared to the pale yellow yolks found in the eggs here. And the whites were softer. The eggs also didn't have that strong sulfur smell.
Simple stir-fried (scrambled) eggs in Suzhou, China were softer and eggier tasting.

Oh, how I long for a beautiful tasting egg !!

Peety says:

Simple stir-fried (scrambled) eggs in Suzhou, China were softer and eggier tasting.

Oh boy, does THAT bring back memories! I lived/taught in Wuhan for 10 months, and used to buy my eggs from the University market: small, thick-shelled, wonderfully-orangy-yellow yolks, and, as you say, specially soft whites. Absolutely excellent eggs!

And of course, how were the chickens 'farmed'? They ran around all over the place, even on campus, where staff and faculty kept them, scratching in the dirt, living like, well... chickens! In the middle of the fifth largest city in China, being awakened every morning by roosters! Yee-hah!

Nice town, Suzhou-- how long did you get to stay?

Oh, how I long for a beautiful tasting egg !!

Truth, peety, truth.

Geo

Geo wrote: I've found egg carton descriptions which claimed that its chickens were both "free range" and "vegetarian", which strikes me as either contradictory or wildly implausible.

Maybe they forced the chickens to watch PETA films.

Peety wrote:You'll find farm fresh chicken and duck eggs at the Green City Market which opens in a few days on Wednesday, May 17. There are usually several suppliers and you can ask about freshness and diet of the hens. Osage Acres and Country Cottage are 2 of the several suppliers.

Thanks for the reminder about the start of Green City. It is, indeed, this week.

I agree that some eggs just taste better than others. I thought that the eggs in Florence, Italy were tastier and more colorful than the eggs in the U.S. I had simple hard boiled eggs and the yolks were a beautiful sunrise orange compared to the pale yellow yolks found in the eggs here. And the whites were softer. The eggs also didn't have that strong sulfur smell.

Indeed, really outstanding eggs are more readily available in Italy and elsewhere in Europe than here. The quality of the eggs is an integral factor for both colour and flavour when making, for example, fresh egg-pasta, a product where the rôle iof the eggs is less obvious than in, say, fresh mayonnaise though ultimately no less important.

Antonius

Geo wrote:Congrats on your successful quest. And do keep us posted on your tasting trials.

We ate the eggs this morning with brunch, scrambled with a splash of milk, salt and pepper. (I prefer to eat fresh eggs like this sunnyside up or with some other preparation that keeps the lovely yolk and supple white separate, but Mrs. Ro prefers scrambled and it was mama's choice today.) The yolks were vivid yellow-orange, and they blended wonderfully with the whites under the whip of the whisk.

The flavor was rich and delicious. Our guest remarked, "I can't believe we even call what we get at the supermarket 'eggs' -- they don't taste anything like these." Mrs. Ro indicated that the eggs were just rich enough without teetering over into her "too rich" territory (where duck eggs live - last summer I tried to slip some duck eggs past her disguised as chicken eggs to no avail (which only doubled my portion)).

The shells, too, were a thing of beauty on these Aracana eggs. I blew out two of the more distinguished eggs - one with a ring of dark blue dots around the pointy end of the aqua shell, the other just a rich shade of green - and set them in egg cups as table decorations, contrasting nicely against the yellow tulips.

One of the yellower shells, though, was among the most delicate I have yet encountered. Upon being cracked, it rightly shattered, sending shell bits into the egg melange to be fished out with a stiffer green shell.

On the whole, the dozen (of which we ate ten split heartily among four) was dazzling, and well worth the $5.10 I paid for it (including tax).

One question--did they tell you anything about what the chickens *eat*? I've found egg carton descriptions which claimed that its chickens were both "free range" and "vegetarian", which strikes me as either contradictory or wildly implausible. It would be interesting to see what gives with your eggs' chickens.

No news about the diet on these hens, but I didn't ask. I suspect that the "vegetarian" label on the "free range" eggs only means that there are no four- or two-legged animal byproducts mixed into their feed. It would shock me if the grubs, worms, and whatever other critters they scratch up into their beaks caught the attention of the "vegetarian"-label police.

Keep eating,
J. Ro

Oh, that is SO great to hear! Congrats on having a great egg feast! I'll be thinking about your triumph for some time. Enjoy!!

I go back to KC for a week, beginning Tuesday. We have a local egg provider who does a fabuluous job supplying the local high-end grocery chain. Not quite so good as what yours sound like, but waaaay better than ordinary grocery eggs.

http://www.goodnatured.net/producers/pr ... _eggs.html

Yet, here in Montreal, home of most of the best food in the world, it is simply impossible to get an egg as good as in KC, let alone as good as those you feasted on today. Go figger. When I want to make some scrambled eggs, or a simple omlette, I always hesitate because it won't be anywhere near as good as it could be with real eggs.

Tell me, did the colored eggs taste... well, off-color? Or were they simply eggy?

I enjoyed your story about trying to slip the duck egg past Ms. R. Hah! There IS a difference. :^)

Geo

Antonius wrote:

Peety wrote:You'll find farm fresh chicken and duck eggs at the Green City Market which opens in a few days on Wednesday, May 17. There are usually several suppliers and you can ask about freshness and diet of the hens. Osage Acres and Country Cottage are 2 of the several suppliers.

Thanks for the reminder about the start of Green City. It is, indeed, this week.

I agree that some eggs just taste better than others. I thought that the eggs in Florence, Italy were tastier and more colorful than the eggs in the U.S. I had simple hard boiled eggs and the yolks were a beautiful sunrise orange compared to the pale yellow yolks found in the eggs here. And the whites were softer. The eggs also didn't have that strong sulfur smell.

Indeed, really outstanding eggs are more readily available in Italy and elsewhere in Europe than here. The quality of the eggs is an integral factor for both colour and flavour when making, for example, fresh egg-pasta, a product where the rôle iof the eggs is less obvious than in, say, fresh mayonnaise though ultimately no less important.

Antonius

Absolutely! One of the things I miss most about living in Europe (Hungary, specifically) is the high-quality eggs (that, and the chicken.) All the eggs I've ever eaten there had yolks that border on deep orange, not the pale lemon-yellow of most American eggs. I have yet to find eggs readily available that taste the same here. All the supermarket free range eggs I've had are only marginally better than their mass-produced counterparts and, to be honest, not worth the premium.

It's not magic, what the Europeans (and Chinese) do to produce good eggs. Just let the chickens be chickens. But in N. America, 'scientific' management policies, coupled with a domineering profit-motivated mentality, have pretty well eliminated your basic chickenhood.

One way to beat it is to form an egg co-op. We formed one in KC in the late 70s. It worked for about 5 yrs 'til our farmer moved away and we never could find anyone else willing to do the job.

I doubt there's a member of this group who wouldn't pay to get good eggs. And pay what it cost + profit to a farmer willing to do it. I'm a bit far away to work on the project, but maybe someone closer to LTH central would be willing to do it.

As this thread shows, getting hold of a good egg is something most of us have a *really* strong desire to do.

Geo

Go Illini wrote:From the Fox & Obel March 2006 Foodletter:

If you’ve been to Green City Farmers Market, you’ve probably tried the farm fresh eggs from Country Cottage Farms in Fisher, Illinois. Now they're available at Fox and Obel, too....

Not sure how the price will compare to Terragusto but may or may not be more convenient for you.

Pretty well...they're $3.49, again supporting my contention that, relatively speaking, Fox and Obel has some pretty reasonable prices. I think I saw Egg Innovations brand eggs for $3.29 at Jewel the other day.

Day before yesterday my friend Jean and I went Down South over the Border to visit the vineyard of another friend in Plattsburgh NY. While we were wandering around playing with the vines and telling lies, I spotted a chicken wire pen in which were.... chickens! Eating bugs and stuff. I lusted. To make a long story short, Rob was generous enough to supply both Jean and me with a dozen eggs of various colors (light green included), and of various states of bespatteredness:




Couldn't wait to give one a fry. Here's the beginning state:



Mmmmmm, bright orange, stands up straight, clear white. A bit later, here's what I had:



After thorough tasting, I chucked it in with some fried potatoes and morcilla. Life is good.

That was a VERY eggy egg. Both fresh AND well-stocked with happy-eating chickenness. Oh boy, and I've got *11* more left!

Geo

Nice looking eggs. I am wrapping up the last of a couple dozen I got a while back. I have usually fried them, but after reading this thread, I just had to poach a couple. Pure unadulterated egg flavor. I forget that when it comes to food sometimes minimalism beats maximization.

I share the view that fresh and flavorful are not necessarily synonymous, and have frequently been disappointed even by expensive farmers' market eggs.

But yesterday I tried Tony End's eggs from his own farm at the Scotch Hill Farm stand at the Oak Park Farmers' Market. I'll save myself having to take a photo and thinking of a vivid description by referencing the terrific photo and description by Geo above

a dozen eggs of various colors (light green included), and of various states of bespatteredness

.

They were exactly what I wanted. I should have bought two dozen. I'm contemplating making a farmers' market quiche, using the organic soft wheat flour Tony was also selling, but I don't know that I really want to dilute the flavor by eating them any way other than straight up.

I continue to save myself the trouble and expense of actually signing up for a CSA by buying one $25 bag at a time from Tony. I keep thinking that at some point he'll tell me I can't always be the one to buy the teaser bag he packs for people who express interest in the CSA, but so far he's letting me get away with it. This week's bag included the usual greens and radishes for this time of year, but he'd upped the value by including big bunches of tarragon and oregano and a pound of his own goat cheese. I need to stop posting and start cooking.

Along with farm fresh eggs I really am partial to free-range farm chicken. And produce eaten within days of when it has been picked can't be beat. If you can't make it to a farmer's market then try http://www.freshpicks.com where you can order from a variety of local farms online and get home delivery.

Geo wrote:Back in The Day, when I owned a vineyard and winery and had a nice chicken ranch (!) next door, I was able to get eggs still warm from the factory. Now that's FRESH.

But, you know what? freshness didn't seem to be the issue. My Egg Lady next door fed her chickens Chicken Chow (or whatever), the scientifically designed food to give the hen exactly the precise amount of whatever to make the egg complete, and the shell just hard enough to stay intact during the marketing process. But there wasn't much egginess to it. Looked good in the pan: erect, nice clean whites, etc. But not much eggy taste.

Then a buddy started hawking eggs by the dozen from some friend of his. I couldn't always get them w/in a few days of production--sometimes it was a week. But DAMN! these were Good Eggs. So I asked 'hey! what is going on?' and my buddy's friend told me the following.

Eggs' flavor is entirely dependent on the chicken's diet. Give chickens Chicken Chow, and the eggs don't taste eggy. On the other hand, let the chickens eat bugs, dirt, other stuff found in the road, and Wallah! [as my students spell it], you've got good-tasting eggs.

I sort of tested this. I bought 'free-range' eggs of hens limited to good healthy vegetarian diets. Non-tasty eggs. So I bought 'free-range' eggs of your genuine free-range chickens. In other words, this latter band of chickens ate bugs, dirt, and the other stuff found in the road.

Bingo! The eggs tasted like eggs.

Soooo, I ultmately concluded that it ain't the freshness, it's the diet, that makes the tasty egg.

Now, admittedly, my sample-size N is small, and I (most likely) was predisposed to my conclusion. Which means that I am quite open to being persuaded that it's vapors in my mind that have convinced me of my conclusion. Any thoughts?

Geo

I would like to add my own test results to support your hypothesis. After reading this thread I picked up a half carton of Country Cottage Farms eggs at Fox & Obel on Friday ($1.79) to do a comparison with the "No Cage, 100% Vegetarian Fed" eggs I bought from Trader Joe's ($1.99 for a whole carton).

Saturday morning I separately scrambled up a batch of both eggs with a touch of half and half and seasoned only with salt and pepper.

Unfortunately, I didn't think at the time to take pictures, but the visual difference alone was striking. The Cottage Farm eggs were a buttery golden color while the TJ eggs were pale and milky. There was also, not surprisingly, a huge difference in taste. After eating the Cottage Farm eggs, no one wanted to touch the TJ eggs, which just tasted weak and bland.

I know TJ also sells Free Range eggs, though I'm not sure what the exact difference is b/t those and the "No Cage." I've also been harboring suspicions that TJ's eggs aren't entirely the freshest on the block despite the printed expiration dates. The whites are always kind of "loose" and yolks are on the pale side. I used to get Rose Acre eggs, and I'm now thinking of switching back to those for everyday use and getting the Country Cottage eggs for those occasions when I want the egg part of the dish to really shine.

Janet C. wrote:I've also been harboring suspicions that TJ's eggs aren't entirely the freshest on the block despite the printed expiration dates.

There is a three digit code (001 - 365) on all egg cartons sold commercially that corresponds with the date the eggs were packed. Eggs packed on the first day of the year will have 001 on the end, eggs packed on the last will have 365. You don't have to know exactly what day today is to compare cartons and figure out which eggs are the freshest. This number often does not correspond with expiration dates. (Here is a photo showing the code.)

Kristen

Janet C.--

Well done! It begins to look like the hypothesis will stand fairly well. Another couple of reps and it'll be established with good probability!

Geo

An additional note on the three digit code on egg cartons. This number is the number of days from the first of the year that the eggs were packed. Not laid. There may be some gap between laying and gathering and then candling and packing.