Egg Labels: What To Look For
I'll never forget my first hunt to find "real" eggs back when we initially made our switch to real food. I'd read in Michael Pollan's book, In Defense of Food, that "pastured" was the optimal egg label to look for yet when I visited three different grocery stores in our area - including health food stores - everyone basically looked at me like I had three heads. Those days were fun. So, I went back to my research just to make sure I wasn't confusing the word "pastured" with "pasteurized" (two similar sounding terms with very different meanings!), and I was momentarily at a loss.
Eventually I figured out that the "good" eggs are the local ones found at the farmers' market. I learned that in most cases pastured chickens not only roam free, but roam on a green, grassy field - or should we call it - a pasture! Unlike cows, chickens do well solely on grains, BUT they are much healthier animals if they eat some greens and bugs as well. And as I've shared before, "The diet of the animals we eat strongly influences the nutritional quality, and healthfulness of the food we get from them, whether it is meat or milk or eggs.*"
Healthier chickens (defined by diet and living conditions) = more nutritious eggs!
So, for a couple years now we've been almost exclusively buying our eggs from the farmer's market. And what I've noticed is that - no matter what type of grocery store eggs we compare them to - you can see the difference. The color of the yolks from truly pastured eggs are a vibrant orange versus the pale yellow you typically find. And when farmers' market shopping there is no need to understand the different egg labels since you basically "shake the hand that feeds you" and can simply ask the farmer about the living conditions and diet of their chickens as well as the use (or lack) of antibiotics.
Farmer's Market Egg vs. Organic Egg - 100 Days of Real Food
In an effort to clear some things up, here's the low down on some common egg labels (based on information provided by the USDA and Humane Society). Read on to see what terms are actually regulated by the government and what they mean exactly - if anything!
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Awesome , not more ingredients and not more time , its so nice yummy thank you for sharing the recipe.
Add a tsp of barley or whole wheat flour to each svg, soak em in yogurt instead of milk at least 12 hrs and Im in! Oats need a very long soak and dont have alot of phytase to break down the phytates when activated by the acidity of the yogurt so the barley contributes it. Properly prepared oats are quite nutritious. Make sure to send an egg or two to give super needed protein to the meal. We add coconut oil or butter to each svg too. Fats keep you going once the carbs wear off!
The egg could be hardboiled and quartered w/s&p or an egg cup or egg sausage ball, also delicious cold or rm temp. Or a cold piece of sausage or ham or even chicken, hey lol
These are so yummy and so easy, especially if you fill several jars at once assembly line style. I definitely recommend including the optional applesauce. I also threw in about 2 tsp worth of finely chopped walnuts and love the subtle texture that added. Delicious recipe and just in time for our local apple season!
So you just eat them cold out of the fridge?
You can or you can heat them up.