The Eggs on You

I don't know about you, but for most of my life I thought eggs were white. I wasn't sure what I was looking at when I when I first saw a brown egg. And then one day I opened up a carton of free-range eggs and some of them were a bluish-green!!!! What was going on there?

Of course, I was told somewhere along the way that brown eggs were laid by brown hens. If I'm to follow that logic, then the blue eggs are laid by blue hens. Ummm.....no. That isn't how it works. I don't know if there are actually blue hens, but the color of the eggs laid have nothing to do with the actual hen color, but rather the hen breed.

By far the most common eggs found in the grocery store are white and these are most likely from the White Leghorn chicken breed. But that is only the beginning of the story on what color eggs come in:

1. Araucanas and Ameraucanas chickens lay blue eggs
2. Easter Eggers lay blue, green, sage, rose and brown, or cream eggs
3. Marans and Rhode Island Res lay the common brown eggs
4. Welsummer chickens lay chocolate-brown eggs with dark speckles
5. Penedesencas lay the darkest reddish brown eggs

Now that we know what determines the color of the shell of chicken eggs, we can delve deeper and learn why the yolk of eggs varies in shades of yellow. This is determined by the hen's diet. If the diet is heavy in greet plants, yellow corn and alfalfa, the yolk will have a darker yellow (almost orange) color. If the hen is eating wheat or barley, the yolk will be pale yellow. And if the hen is fed white cornmeal the yolk will be almost colorless. Just as a side note, it is not legal to feed chickens artificial colors to enhance the color of the yolk.  It isn't uncommon for farmers to feed their chickens marigolds to add color to the yolks.

This brings us to how chicken are tended to, fed and raised. The U.S. produces up towards 75 billion eggs per year. In 145 the average American age 404 eggs per year. That number plummeted to 229 in 1991. The reason? The great American egg scare. Somewhere, someone decided that eggs were bad for our health. Eggs raised our cholesterol; they were full of fat. After much research, cooler heads prevailed and the misunderstood egg began a comeback, because it turns out that saturated fat is the real culprit for raising cholesterol levels. For example, one egg contains 1.6 grams saturated, while a pad of butter contains 4.6 grams saturated fat. It turns out that saturated fat is what triggers the body to produce cholesterol.

It turns out that the egg is an incredible thing. Did you know that it is one of the few foods that are a natural source of Vitamin D. One egg has 75 calories, about 7 grams high-quality protein, and 1.6 grams saturated fat, along with iron, minerals, vitamins and carotenoids.

I'm sure you've of eating egg whites alone and forgetting the yolk. The problem here is that a whole egg is actually very nearly a perfect food. If you decide not to eat one part of the egg, you are deciding to limit the nutritional value of the whole food. I do not suggest that anyone eat anything that would cause them harm. I do suggest that you find out what works best for you and go from there.

But as long as we talking nutrition, what about factory farm raised chicken and free range chicken? We've all heard about living conditions for animals that are caged. These conditions can be very unhealthy, to the point of inhumane. Chickens are forced to lay eggs constantly. For more information on this, I've included a site for you. 

Factory Raised Chickens

Cage Free Chickens

Just because a producer says the hens are free range doesn't mean the hens are allowed into the environment to scratch and peck. They may be allowed outside, but are not given the needed space to be a regular chicken. If the farmer or producer says the birds are cage-free, then it is much more likely that the chickens are given a natural space to be a chicken.

Chickens that are allowed to be chickens as nature intended produce eggs that:

• have twice as much omega-3 fatty acids.
• have three times more Vitamin E.
• have seven times more pro-vitamin A beta-carotene.
• have a quarter less saturated fat.

Now that we know our eggs, it's time to cook some.  Today's recipe is more of a how-to. More specifically, how to poach an egg.  If you ever eaten Eggs Benedict, you've eaten poached eggs.  Poaching an egg can be intimidating, if you don't understand the dynamics of how poaching works.  We'll keep it simple, which is what poaching is.

Poached Eggs with Toast

What you need:

2 eggs

Medium Sauce Pan with about 3 inches of water

vinegar

slotted spoon

What you need to do:

Bring water to a slow simmer.  Add a splash of vinegar to the water.

Crack your egg into a small bowl or ramekin.  Gently pour the egg into the simmering water. Using the slotted spoon, gently bring the white around the yolk and allow the egg to cook for about 2 minutes.  If you want a harder cooked egg, allow it to cook for 3-4 minutes. Using the slotted spoon, gently remove the egg from the water, allowing it to drain a moment. Place your poached egg on your plate and season with salt and pepper.

Get to know your local farmers and get your eggs fresh and make your favorite breakfast, lunch or dinner using the very versatile and lovable egg.

Now, go out and make something good.