Know Your Egg

Natural, free-range, vegetarian fed, organic, local...what's the best egg? Let's start with "natural" which means absolutely nothing. Skip it and save your money.

Free-range is nice. I like the fact that the chickens get to go outside once in awhile but this label on it's own is not enough to make a buying decision. How long do they get to go outside, an hour a day, one day a week, two?

Vegetarian fed is probably the most interesting new label. On first thought this sounds appealing. It means no animal by-products, that's a good thing, right? But free-range chickens eat bugs, so a vegetarian chicken is either really well trained to not eat bugs or they never leave their cages. Might just be a marketing gimmick. I'm putting this up there with "natural"- not worthy of my consideration.

Organic is a good choice if you don't have a local option. But even an organic egg falls short in taste and color when compared to one that was freshly gathered from your local small farm. Check out Heart of the Garden Farm to learn their philosophy about getting a good egg.