Nothing tastes better than a farm fresh egg

I guess you could call me an egg snob, yes you could call me that for sure.  We had a short stint of raising chickens for eggs in our backyard, until we realized we did not quite meet the township rules regarding backyard chickens. Then we had to give our flock to a local farmer.  It was a tough day for us. 

Why? Well, believe it or not, chickens have personalities.  We had a Paula Dean Chicken, all white ,with big puffy feathers, Big Fatty (you can guess why)  and Elliots favorite, Sunny (for Sunny side up) yellow with a furry face and then Road Runner, so fast we could not get her back into the Super Deluxe chicken coop my husband Mike, built.  And we had about 30 more chickens in addition to those we became attached to.

We also became attached to the people who came to buy our eggs.  They would share the stories of their time going to a family farm or farmers market to buy eggs, or being raised on a farm and going out and gathering the eggs. There is always a story of a mean old rooster in there too!

It was also a hard day because we had become used to eating the most wonderful eggs of our entire lives.  A farm egg is just different from store bought eggs, even the really expensive ones in the store do not stack up to those that come from a local farm, where chickens are allowed to roam around the yard and eat bugs, grass and corn.  And lets face it, you do NOT get the beautiful assortment of colors of shells you can get from farm chickens.

A rainbow of natural colored egg shells

When I am working at the Anderson Farmers Market, the subject of eggs just seems to come up with the patrons.  And I have found egg snobs are everywhere.  The first thing everyone wants to comment on is the beautiful bright orange thick yolks and how “eggy” they taste.  I know it sounds silly, but farm eggs just have more flavor. That is why I feel lucky to have access to wonderful eggs from several farmers at the Anderson Farmers Market.

What are some other noticable differences between store bought and farm fresh eggs? Farm Fresh eggs shells are thicker, so make sure to give them a good whack on the counter before you try to break them into the pan.  It make take you several trys if you are used to the thin shells of a store-bought egg.  They are harder to peel when you make hard-boiled eggs. Why, because they are so fresh they have not aged and created the air pocket between the white and the shell that older eggs have. So, if you want to make hard boiled eggs, let your farm fresh eggs “age” for a week or so before boiling them.

The egg on the left is cooked correctly, the egg on the right has a green ring which means it was cooked to hard and too long

Perfect hard cooked eggs

 

Place 6 eggs in a saucepan and cover with cold water.

Cover pan with lid, turn heat to medium high and watch until it boils.

When water boils, turn off the  heat and let sit for 10 minutes.

To help cool and make peeling easier, pour off hot water and run under cold water  or place in ice bath until you can tell the eggs have cooled.

The next time you stop by the Anderson Farmers Market, pick up a dozen of Farm Fresh eggs and have a breakfast you will never forget.

Keep Eating Locally,

Barbie Hahn