Thanks to the cold snap here in Maine, my hens have (temporarily) stopped laying, I know they'll start back up when conditions improve, but for now, I need to find a tolerable/acceptable egg to hold me over....
No supermarket egg can compare to a backyard egg from pastured hens, that's a given, but how close can we get?
I decided to find out....
I stopped in at a local organic grocer (golden Harvest in Kittery, ME) that's been in business as long as I've been around 45 years at least), and checked my options.....
Only one qualified, Carol's pasture raised Marans eggs, at $3.19 a half dozen, they aren't exactly cheap, but I decided to try them anyway...
Rating system is on a scale of 1-10, 10 being one of my hens eggs, 1 being battery farmed garbage eggs
Appearance; 10
Opening the carton I saw six gorgeous chocolate brown eggs, with a freckling of darker spots, one with a little pimple of extra calcium on the shell, each egg differed slightly, each one was unique, no box of identical clones here, and it even looked like the bloom was largely intact, one egg even had a tiny spot of poop on the shell, two pinhead sized spots, it's clear they kept the processing to a minimum
Size; 10
A good variety from med-large to jumbo, all with a pleasing heft
Shell strength; 10
Admittedly a sample of one, but the shell was nicely solid
Overall, as close as you can get to backyard eggs...
Now, onto the cooking....
The egg was cracked onto a heated Lodge cast iron skillet, well seasoned and with a quick spritz of canola oil, heat set to 5 on an electric range top, egg was somewhat scrambled during cooking
Yolk; 6.5
The yolk was dark yellow, but nowhere near as orange as mine, it was high and tight, had a meat spot, and it looked like it may have been fertile, there was a tiny bulls-eye white spot
Inner albumen; 7
Light goldish-green, stayed around the yolk with minimal spread, but it did spread some
Outer albumen; 3
Runny and watery, very poor, Julian date on the carton was 315
Cooking performance; 4
Due to the runny outer albumen, I had to sort of scramble it, my eggs hold together tightly, even the outer albumen
And now, the important rating...
Taste (albumen); 5
Not bad, just bland and nearly flavorless
Taste (yolk); 5.5
Mild and inoffensive, crumbly mouthfeel, nowhere near the rich creamy consistency of mine
Taste (both combined); 7.5
The combination of yolk and white balance each other out, the flavor is mild and pleasant, but I miss the stronger "egginess" of mine
Overall, not bad, can't compete with my backyard hens, but light years better than battery farm eggs, these would work great for hard boiling and egg salad, but as a fried or scrambled egg, no comparison, my hens are better
These are an acceptable substitute for when my hens production drops, and since these might be fertile, I may shove a few under a hen when one goes broody...$3.15 for potentially 6 Marans chicks is a chance worth taking
Final rating;
7.0
No supermarket egg can compare to a backyard egg from pastured hens, that's a given, but how close can we get?
I decided to find out....
I stopped in at a local organic grocer (golden Harvest in Kittery, ME) that's been in business as long as I've been around 45 years at least), and checked my options.....
Only one qualified, Carol's pasture raised Marans eggs, at $3.19 a half dozen, they aren't exactly cheap, but I decided to try them anyway...
Rating system is on a scale of 1-10, 10 being one of my hens eggs, 1 being battery farmed garbage eggs
Appearance; 10
Opening the carton I saw six gorgeous chocolate brown eggs, with a freckling of darker spots, one with a little pimple of extra calcium on the shell, each egg differed slightly, each one was unique, no box of identical clones here, and it even looked like the bloom was largely intact, one egg even had a tiny spot of poop on the shell, two pinhead sized spots, it's clear they kept the processing to a minimum
Size; 10
A good variety from med-large to jumbo, all with a pleasing heft
Shell strength; 10
Admittedly a sample of one, but the shell was nicely solid
Overall, as close as you can get to backyard eggs...
Now, onto the cooking....
The egg was cracked onto a heated Lodge cast iron skillet, well seasoned and with a quick spritz of canola oil, heat set to 5 on an electric range top, egg was somewhat scrambled during cooking
Yolk; 6.5
The yolk was dark yellow, but nowhere near as orange as mine, it was high and tight, had a meat spot, and it looked like it may have been fertile, there was a tiny bulls-eye white spot
Inner albumen; 7
Light goldish-green, stayed around the yolk with minimal spread, but it did spread some
Outer albumen; 3
Runny and watery, very poor, Julian date on the carton was 315
Cooking performance; 4
Due to the runny outer albumen, I had to sort of scramble it, my eggs hold together tightly, even the outer albumen
And now, the important rating...
Taste (albumen); 5
Not bad, just bland and nearly flavorless
Taste (yolk); 5.5
Mild and inoffensive, crumbly mouthfeel, nowhere near the rich creamy consistency of mine
Taste (both combined); 7.5
The combination of yolk and white balance each other out, the flavor is mild and pleasant, but I miss the stronger "egginess" of mine
Overall, not bad, can't compete with my backyard hens, but light years better than battery farm eggs, these would work great for hard boiling and egg salad, but as a fried or scrambled egg, no comparison, my hens are better
These are an acceptable substitute for when my hens production drops, and since these might be fertile, I may shove a few under a hen when one goes broody...$3.15 for potentially 6 Marans chicks is a chance worth taking
Final rating;
7.0
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