The Ultimate Egg Test: Taste Testing!

Putting all known benefits aside, I decided to test the theory that better quality eggs taste better. I had some Eggland's Best regular eggs (sadly not cage-free or organic) in my fridge. I'm lucky to have a local coop in town called Weaver Street Market and I headed there to check out their egg selection. I picked up 2 kinds of cage-free eggs there: one from a local farm and the other Organic Valley brand. Then I grabbed some regular eggs from the closest grocery store, Food Lion. Since there are only 3 companies supplying 85% of the animal products in the country, I think it's safe to assume those are the same as the store brand at any non-specialty grocery store.

The Contenders:

a. Local farm eggs from Latta's Egg Ranch in Hillsborough, NC ($3.89 for 18) Package claims: Fresh grade A, cage-free, all-grain diet with no animal by-products

b. Organic Valley ($1.49/half dozen with $1 off coupon) Package claims: Grade A, cage-free, USDA organic, 100% vegetarian diet, Oregon tilth certified organic

c. Food Lion brand ($1.45/dozen) Package claims: Grade A Fresh, United Egg Producers Certified

d. Eggland's Best ($2.50/dozen) Package claims: Grade A, all natural, vegetarian fed hens (no animal fat or by products), no added hormones in diet, no antibiotics, 100 mg Omega 3

Results:

Test 1. Overeasy

Winner = d. Eggland's Best (me), b. Organic Valley (my boyfriend)

Runner up? Nope. We couldn't tell a significant difference between the other three.

Test 2. Scrambled

Winner = b. Organic Valley

Runner up = d. Eggland's Best

There was a much clearer taste and texture difference in these ones. The Food Lion brand egg was clearly behind: it had a much tougher texture and less flavor than the others.

Interestingly, none of these eggs had any greater claim for animal welfare than the 2 that are cage-free, which I now know is having a little more than a piece of paper size of living room. But it was clear that the feed and the environment have an effect on the taste. I wonder what one of Joel Salatin's eggs taste like...