Pass The Pasture-Raised Egg, Please
May/June 2007
By Melissa Libby
While you may know that Georgia is the fourth-largest producer of table eggs in the country, do you know if your customer prefers an egg from a pasture-raised hen with her bacon? It is becoming increasingly important to consider the benefits of these and other types of eggs, as consumers are becoming better educated and more demanding.
Pasturing simulates ideal conditions that allow the chicken to behave like a chicken. Birds live on the ground in a pasture with access to shelter for nesting and bad weather. They are free to scratch and forage for protein-filled bugs and worms while soaking in vitamin D from the sun. The grass they eat gives them beta-carotene for yolks with a bright orange color.
Bill Keener farms just north of the state border near Chattanooga. He says that pasturing takes more effort but it’s worth it. “These eggs are packed with more vitamins, more omega-3 fatty acids and have a lower cholesterol level,” says Keener.
“Eggs give fresh pasta its flavor and these eggs actually taste like eggs; the yolks are a deep yellow-orange and the whites are very firm,” said Elisa Gambino, of Via Elisa Fresh Pasta, which supplies many top Atlanta restaurants. “These qualities give the dough a beautiful color and flavor.” Gambino gets her eggs from a farm in Dallas, Georgia.
“Elisa really does have the best eggs,” says Gerry Klaskala of Aria, a client of Via Elisa’s.
Another chef using eggs from pasture-raised hens is Ron Eyester of Food 101. Ron gets most of his eggs from Moore Farm & Friends, a collective of farmers in Georgia and Alabama. He says better taste is always a factor, but his primary reason for using the eggs is the freshness.
“You know when you get your eggs they are less than 10 days old,” says Eyester. “Pasture-raised eggs are great to cook with, especially if you are poaching eggs for a dish like eggs Benedict. If you poach an egg that isn’t fresh the white will spread out and look sloppy. With a fresh egg, the white will wrap tightly around the yolk and produce a pretty poached egg that sits perfectly atop a slice of bread. They are also excellent in crème brulee because they have such a clean, eggy taste.”
Georgia farmers who are handcrafting eggs can’t produce enough of them.
“We’re experiencing more and more demand for the kind of fresh eggs we have,” said Nicolas Donck, of Crystal Organic Farms, another pasturing farmer and member of Georgia Organics.
Andy Byrd of Whippoorwill Hollow Farms notes that consumers may pay a little more for his eggs but that eggs are still relatively inexpensive. “If eggs held the same value relative to other goods of the pre-industrial farming 1930s, we’d be paying twelve dollars a dozen today,” says Byrd.
“We have more market than we have eggs,” said Shirley Daughtry, owner of Heritage Organic Farm. “Our eggs are heralded for their taste, but consumers respond to the better quality of life we provide for our hens, too.”
Nationwide, organic egg sales are increasing at a steep pace. According to a 2006 survey by the Organic Trade Association, sales of organic foods have nearly quadrupled since 1997, and organic dairy is one of the fastest-growing areas in the food industry. At Horizon Organics, a large national dairy and egg company, sales of organic eggs in natural food stores such as Whole Foods Market and Wild Oats are up year after year.
Georgia farmers interested in sustainable growing methods pursue egg production on a small scale, sometimes without the organic label conferred by certification. In pasture-raising, quality begins to suffer with higher volume operations; this and the labor-intensive demands of direct marketing make small operations the only economically feasible alternative.
“I’m glad these farmers are making the effort,” says Food 101′s Eyester. “And our customers are, too.”
Health Benefits of Pasture-Raised Eggs
- Pasture-raised eggs have 10% less fat, 34% less cholesterol, 40% more vitamin A, and 400% more omega-3 fatty acids. (USDA Sustainable Agriculture and Research Education Program)
- An egg from a pastured hen has 30% more vitamin E (Animal Feed Science and Technology, 1998)
- Pasture-raised eggs produce positive HDL or good cholesterol and lower “bad” triglycerides (Nutrition, 1993)
Georgia Organics, a nonprofit organization working to integrate healthy, sustainable, and locally grown food into the lives of all Georgians provided this article. To learn more, visit www.georgiaorganics.org, or call 678.702.0400. Melissa Libby is the co-founder, along with Kristina Hjelsand, of the Red Clay Collective, an Atlanta marketing and public relations partnership founded in 2006 that represents Southeastern food artisans.
