elsmitro
floppy member
The standard chicken egg: At first it seems as simple as the subject line, but if you give it any thought it can stir the imagination to the conception of time itself. No wonder this seeming simple edible suffers from so many misconceptions. How many of you have eaten ‘farm fresh’ eggs? Eggs that were produced by birds that got to roam to their hearts content in grassy fields, and eat as they pleased. Eggs produced by birds that got to live as chickens, instead of industrial disposables. Brown, blue, pink, or white, whatever the color of the shell, if the birds were living as they were intended you will find large dark colored yokes inside, that tastes much richer than the eggs produced by that birds indentured cousin.
I am going to attempt to clear up what I think the majority may not understand about ‘the egg’.
1. Eggs that have a blood spot on the yolk are safe for consumption. These do not indicate a fertilized egg, are not harmful, and are caused by the rupture of a blood vessel during formation of the egg.
2. What’s the gross white stringy stuff on my egg? These strands are the chalazae, which anchor the yolk in the center of the thick white. They are not imperfections or beginning embryos. The more prominent the chalazae, the fresher the egg.
3. The ‘Free Range’ myth: Most commercial "free-range" egg farm hens are crowded inside windowless sheds with little more than a single, narrow exit leading to an enclosure, too small to accommodate all of the birds at once. If they are fortunate enough to make it ‘outside’ during the 1-2 years they are allowed to live, they find no grass, not even dirt or bugs. This is all that’s required to call them ‘free range’. The term is so abused that most people that have true free-range birds are replacing the term ‘free range’ with ‘grass fed’ or ‘pastured poultry’.
4. Nutrition: True free-range chickens consume large amounts of grass, clover, weeds, seeds, and insects, in addition to grain. It is precisely this natural and diverse diet that produces nutrient rich pastured poultry eggs. I'm sure everyone here has heard the fraze "garbage in, garbage out"; of course the opposite is also just as true. Pastured poultry eggs contain about half as much cholesterol, are twice as rich in Vitamin E, up to six times richer in beta carotene and a whopping four times^ higher in essential omega-3 fatty acids! If they can naturally produce eggs this healthy imagine how much healthier and happier the birds themselves are.
OK, I guess I’m done for now, hope this helps someone (and a bird or 2) out!
I am going to attempt to clear up what I think the majority may not understand about ‘the egg’.
1. Eggs that have a blood spot on the yolk are safe for consumption. These do not indicate a fertilized egg, are not harmful, and are caused by the rupture of a blood vessel during formation of the egg.
2. What’s the gross white stringy stuff on my egg? These strands are the chalazae, which anchor the yolk in the center of the thick white. They are not imperfections or beginning embryos. The more prominent the chalazae, the fresher the egg.
3. The ‘Free Range’ myth: Most commercial "free-range" egg farm hens are crowded inside windowless sheds with little more than a single, narrow exit leading to an enclosure, too small to accommodate all of the birds at once. If they are fortunate enough to make it ‘outside’ during the 1-2 years they are allowed to live, they find no grass, not even dirt or bugs. This is all that’s required to call them ‘free range’. The term is so abused that most people that have true free-range birds are replacing the term ‘free range’ with ‘grass fed’ or ‘pastured poultry’.
4. Nutrition: True free-range chickens consume large amounts of grass, clover, weeds, seeds, and insects, in addition to grain. It is precisely this natural and diverse diet that produces nutrient rich pastured poultry eggs. I'm sure everyone here has heard the fraze "garbage in, garbage out"; of course the opposite is also just as true. Pastured poultry eggs contain about half as much cholesterol, are twice as rich in Vitamin E, up to six times richer in beta carotene and a whopping four times^ higher in essential omega-3 fatty acids! If they can naturally produce eggs this healthy imagine how much healthier and happier the birds themselves are.
OK, I guess I’m done for now, hope this helps someone (and a bird or 2) out!
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