Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Eggs Not Always What They're Cracked Up to Be

npr.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 158 posts

Re: Eggs Not Always What They're Cracked Up to Be

#31

Post by archagon »

Aloisius wrote: post #29
archagon wrote: post #21

The description in "The Omnivore's Dilemma" of egg yolks from idyllically pasture-raised chickens is forever stuck in my memory. "Between stops, Art mentioned that Joel’s eggs usually gave him his foot in the door when trying to land a new account. We stopped in at one such prospect, a newly opened restaurant called the Filling Station. Art introduced himself and presented the chef with a brochure and a dozen eggs. T…

The color of an egg yolk is based on what the chicken ate and has no bearing on how idyllic their lives were. There are plenty of pasture raised chickens without the deep orange color because the plant material around them (you can get nearly white colored yolks from a hen that has literally miles of pasture around them). If there a lot of capsicum peppers around for instance, the yolks will turn almost red. How firm…

Well, yeah, but I imagine "what the chicken ate" and "how idyllic their lives were" are pretty closely related. In any case, I've never once found a firm orange yolk in my eggs — supermarket, farmer's market, or otherwise. Joel is probably doing something right here. (Or maybe his eggs are just really fresh, I don't know.)

Re: Eggs Not Always What They're Cracked Up to Be

#32

Post by Someone »

debacle wrote: post #23
heydenberk wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you support banning GMOs? I don't mean to be snarky, but I don't know of any good scientific case for doing so. In my estimation, GMOs are one of the most promising technologies for increasing quality of life around the world.

There are logical reasons for being against GMOs. Many of them have nothing to do with the fact that the product is GMO: * GMOs tend to promote monoculture and pesticide use. * Studies have shown that the same developments that make GMOs more insect resistant can also make them more difficult to digest. * When it comes to animals, GMOs tend to have much poorer quality of life and tend to be completely incapable of su…

"When it comes to animals, GMOs tend to have much poorer quality of life and tend to be completely incapable of surviving without constant support (chickens who can't stand on their own, cows who can't go more than 48 hours without milking, etc)."

I am sure we do not we need genetic manipulation to create such animals (regular breeding does 'wonders', too) and do not know of any case where we used GM here. Care to elaborate?

Re: Eggs Not Always What They're Cracked Up to Be

#33

Post by fizgig »

archagon wrote: post #21

The description in "The Omnivore's Dilemma" of egg yolks from idyllically pasture-raised chickens is forever stuck in my memory. "Between stops, Art mentioned that Joel’s eggs usually gave him his foot in the door when trying to land a new account. We stopped in at one such prospect, a newly opened restaurant called the Filling Station. Art introduced himself and presented the chef with a brochure and a dozen eggs. T…

> I've yet to find an egg like that, though I've heard you can get them if you raise backyard chickens.

As a former back yard chicken owner, I can confirm the startling difference between typical store-bought eggs and fresh eggs when grass/greens are in season. They taste cleaner, as well.

The nearly-neon orange/yellow yolks are quite a sight. Over the past 15 years or so, I've noticed many mid-range egg brands seeming to have darker yolks, likely from some additive to the feed explicitly for that purpose -- kinda like dyeing cheddar cheese orange.

Re: Eggs Not Always What They're Cracked Up to Be

#34

Post by tiglionabbit »

archagon wrote: post #21

The description in "The Omnivore's Dilemma" of egg yolks from idyllically pasture-raised chickens is forever stuck in my memory. "Between stops, Art mentioned that Joel’s eggs usually gave him his foot in the door when trying to land a new account. We stopped in at one such prospect, a newly opened restaurant called the Filling Station. Art introduced himself and presented the chef with a brochure and a dozen eggs. T…

I went to whole foods and bought a bunch of different brands of eggs and cracked them at home to inspect them. I noticed a big difference between the ones that said "pastured" from all of the others. These were usually the orangest and firmest. The yellowest and weakest were the "omega 3 flax fed" ones. Words like "cage free" and "free range" didn't seem to make a difference.

Re: Eggs Not Always What They're Cracked Up to Be

#35

Post by schmichael »

archagon wrote: post #21

The description in "The Omnivore's Dilemma" of egg yolks from idyllically pasture-raised chickens is forever stuck in my memory. "Between stops, Art mentioned that Joel’s eggs usually gave him his foot in the door when trying to land a new account. We stopped in at one such prospect, a newly opened restaurant called the Filling Station. Art introduced himself and presented the chef with a brochure and a dozen eggs. T…

Backyard chicken owner here! Yup, very firm yolks. However the color can fade in the winter when they don't get many greens or sunlight. Evidently you can add turmeric to their feed to enhance the color, but I've never cared to try.

Re: Eggs Not Always What They're Cracked Up to Be

#36

Post by tiglionabbit »

archagon wrote: post #31
Aloisius wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The color of an egg yolk is based on what the chicken ate and has no bearing on how idyllic their lives were. There are plenty of pasture raised chickens without the deep orange color because the plant material around them (you can get nearly white colored yolks from a hen that has literally miles of pasture around them). If there a lot of capsicum peppers around for instance, the yolks will turn almost red. How firm…

Well, yeah, but I imagine "what the chicken ate" and "how idyllic their lives were" are pretty closely related. In any case, I've never once found a firm orange yolk in my eggs — supermarket, farmer's market, or otherwise. Joel is probably doing something right here. (Or maybe his eggs are just really fresh, I don't know.)

In the same book, he mentions that they have to keep their chickens inside during the winter, which means no bright orange color to the yolks during those months. Try again when the weather is warm?

Re: Eggs Not Always What They're Cracked Up to Be

#37

Post by jmhobbs »

archagon wrote: post #31
Aloisius wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The color of an egg yolk is based on what the chicken ate and has no bearing on how idyllic their lives were. There are plenty of pasture raised chickens without the deep orange color because the plant material around them (you can get nearly white colored yolks from a hen that has literally miles of pasture around them). If there a lot of capsicum peppers around for instance, the yolks will turn almost red. How firm…

Well, yeah, but I imagine "what the chicken ate" and "how idyllic their lives were" are pretty closely related. In any case, I've never once found a firm orange yolk in my eggs — supermarket, farmer's market, or otherwise. Joel is probably doing something right here. (Or maybe his eggs are just really fresh, I don't know.)

Good pasture and good nutrition helps for the firmness. If you want a rich, golden yolk, feed them marigold petals. It doesn't take much to really darken the yolk, and our birds seem to like them.

Re: Eggs Not Always What They're Cracked Up to Be

#38

Post by archagon »

schmichael wrote: post #35
archagon wrote: post #21

The description in "The Omnivore's Dilemma" of egg yolks from idyllically pasture-raised chickens is forever stuck in my memory. "Between stops, Art mentioned that Joel’s eggs usually gave him his foot in the door when trying to land a new account. We stopped in at one such prospect, a newly opened restaurant called the Filling Station. Art introduced himself and presented the chef with a brochure and a dozen eggs. T…

Backyard chicken owner here! Yup, very firm yolks. However the color can fade in the winter when they don't get many greens or sunlight. Evidently you can add turmeric to their feed to enhance the color, but I've never cared to try.

There's an interesting later passage about exactly that:

"Joel told me that when he first began selling eggs to chefs, he found himself apologizing for their pallid hue in winter; the yolks would lose their rich orange color when the chickens came in off the pasture in November. Then he met a chef who told him not to worry about it. The chef explained that in cooking school in Switzerland he’d been taught recipes that specifically called for April eggs, August eggs, and December eggs. Some seasons produce better yolks, others better whites, and chefs would adjust their menus accordingly."

Re: Eggs Not Always What They're Cracked Up to Be

#39

Post by jack-r-abbit »

My first real job (25 years ago... at age 15) was collecting eggs at a medium-sized commercial egg farm. Maybe I didn't care about "organic" or "cage-free" at age 15 or nobody cared 25 year ago, but we were one of those "battery cage" farms. It was long buildings with 5 rows of double stacked cages. The floor of the cage was slanted so that the eggs rolled out into a trough in the front. We'd push a narrow cart down the row and collect the eggs into trays. It was brutal for both humans and chickens. I didn't eat eggs or chicken for awhile after that.

Re: Eggs Not Always What They're Cracked Up to Be

#40

Post by csorrell »

archagon wrote: post #21

The description in "The Omnivore's Dilemma" of egg yolks from idyllically pasture-raised chickens is forever stuck in my memory. "Between stops, Art mentioned that Joel’s eggs usually gave him his foot in the door when trying to land a new account. We stopped in at one such prospect, a newly opened restaurant called the Filling Station. Art introduced himself and presented the chef with a brochure and a dozen eggs. T…

I've always thought (assumed) that the eggs 'muscle tone' was a measure of their freshness.
Post reply on HN