Fresh eggs, or maybe not so fresh eggs.
Discussion
The poached egg thread got me wondering about freshness of eggs in UK shops, as opposed to other countries and direct from the farm.
If I go to my local ICA supermarket in Sweden, ICA is basically the equivalent of Tesco, or the Coop which is the next one along, (for some strange reason I can't bring myself to use Willys
) but I can pick up a carton of eggs, and they will be as fresh as fresh can be.
I mean you can do picture perfect poached eggs without even trying all the Hairy Bikers malarkey and so on. If want fried eggs the white holds in the pan perfectly and doesn't spread out.
Yet if I go into a UK supermarket, pick up half a dozen with the latest date I can find, even if used the same day most times the poached egg is impossible to do easily as evidenced by the poached egg thread. Plus sometimes the white on a fried example holds up and sometimes it spreads in a watery mess all over the place.
I've even bought from our local farm shop, which isn't a poultry farm btw, and get the same results.
So my question for the farmers and grocers is, why do we get such crap eggs in UK?
And secondly, eggs in UK are almost totally brown shell. The Swedish ones are white shell. Is that part of the difference e.g. model and marque of hen? Or?
If I go to my local ICA supermarket in Sweden, ICA is basically the equivalent of Tesco, or the Coop which is the next one along, (for some strange reason I can't bring myself to use Willys
) but I can pick up a carton of eggs, and they will be as fresh as fresh can be.I mean you can do picture perfect poached eggs without even trying all the Hairy Bikers malarkey and so on. If want fried eggs the white holds in the pan perfectly and doesn't spread out.
Yet if I go into a UK supermarket, pick up half a dozen with the latest date I can find, even if used the same day most times the poached egg is impossible to do easily as evidenced by the poached egg thread. Plus sometimes the white on a fried example holds up and sometimes it spreads in a watery mess all over the place.
I've even bought from our local farm shop, which isn't a poultry farm btw, and get the same results.
So my question for the farmers and grocers is, why do we get such crap eggs in UK?
And secondly, eggs in UK are almost totally brown shell. The Swedish ones are white shell. Is that part of the difference e.g. model and marque of hen? Or?
I produce eggs, and mine are collected twice a week to go to the packing station meaning some are possibly 4 days old. Once graded & packed they head off to the supermarkets so may be a week old before actually being put on the shelves(their date stamps will reflect this).
There is a difference between "newly laid" & "7 days fresh"
I do open and inspect the eggs in supermarkets out of curiousity (as I obviously never buy) and can be surprised to see eggs on the shelves with very little life left. I think the supermarkets create buffers so they never run out, and this has been further complicated by the many different types now available.
eta, similar to milk it seems unforgivable for a shop to run out but they are often selling bottles with short lives.
There is a difference between "newly laid" & "7 days fresh"
I do open and inspect the eggs in supermarkets out of curiousity (as I obviously never buy) and can be surprised to see eggs on the shelves with very little life left. I think the supermarkets create buffers so they never run out, and this has been further complicated by the many different types now available.
eta, similar to milk it seems unforgivable for a shop to run out but they are often selling bottles with short lives.
Edited by AndyAudi on Friday 22 January 11:58
Interesting Andy, so considering that unless I search out local poultry farmers and buy fresh laid or as near as possible from them, and that the supply chain prevents us buying fresh laid in the shops, what would you consider as fresh and getting a bit past it? 7days?
Reading between the lines I'm thinking that the best before date stamped on the shell should be more than three weeks away, ie egg laid < 7 days and after 7 days the white starts to thin?
Reading between the lines I'm thinking that the best before date stamped on the shell should be more than three weeks away, ie egg laid < 7 days and after 7 days the white starts to thin?
Best before date is, I think, no later than 28 days from lay (27 for Lion Stamped).
Most of the big egg producers/packers will get their product to supermarket quickly, the smaller units (likely organic/free range) using a central packer/distributor may have a couple of extra days in the chain to get them off farm to the packer.
Was speaking to a small holder with 8 hens the other day selling at farm gate, she had 10 days worth of eggs as the weather was preventing people coming out. SO it is pot luck buying unstamped eggs at farm shops etc as my money says she'll be selling her oldest stuff first.
Most of the big egg producers/packers will get their product to supermarket quickly, the smaller units (likely organic/free range) using a central packer/distributor may have a couple of extra days in the chain to get them off farm to the packer.
Was speaking to a small holder with 8 hens the other day selling at farm gate, she had 10 days worth of eggs as the weather was preventing people coming out. SO it is pot luck buying unstamped eggs at farm shops etc as my money says she'll be selling her oldest stuff first.
Edited by AndyAudi on Friday 22 January 15:47
escargot said:
TonyHetherington said:
I, quite honestly, never considered that it was the eggs that made my fried eggs look like a big splat rather than just me not doing it right!
I think it's to do with the egg white breaking down as it gets older. Sounds logical anyway.Gassing Station | Food, Drink & Restaurants | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff