3 ms·

Not sure about beef but I can guarantee you that there's a ton of difference between the eggs produced by my parents' chicken (they raise them "organically", so

Not sure about beef but I can guarantee you that there's a ton of difference between the eggs produced by my parents' chicken (they raise them "organically", so to speak, i.e. they do subsistence agriculture) and the eggs that I can purchase from the supermarket closest to me. And the difference is in favour of my parents' chicken. The same discussion is valid for the chicken meat.

zaroth 7y ago
Two of my neighbors raise chickens. They both regularly drop off eggs as their supply exceeds demand. They are visually distinctive (they tend to be smaller than a supermarket “large egg” and dirtier for sure) but after cooking are entirely indistinguishable from the eggs at the store. Of course I’m very grateful for the eggs, but even they will admit it’s not for quality and quantity, but mostly a fun hobby and something to help get the kids involved with.
- Retric 7y ago
  It’s common for people to feed chickens the same basic diet as industrial chicken farmers do. Otherwise you need quite a bit more land per chicken. A good rule of thumb is unless their walking on grass they need feed.
  - mod 7y ago
    I raised chickens and they had the run of my 40 acres. I could not tell the difference in the eggs except for the shell color and yolk color. Free-range chickens tend to have a darker, orange yolk. The taste is identical, to me at least. The meat is totally different, though.
- paganel 7y ago
  > but after cooking are entirely indistinguishable from the eggs at the store. I can personally feel the difference both when cooking schnitzels (I use the same meat, but the "crust" tastes different depending on the eggs used) and when making pancakes (I use the same milk and flour).
fouc 7y ago
It's fairly easy to visually tell if the egg came from a free range chicken, the yolk is a dark orange color.
- Jedd 7y ago
  This isn't necessarily the case. Free range chickens will produce eggs with varying colour throughout the year. Some consumers have been told that dark orange equates to healthy / free-range chickens -- so some farmers use colour additives to the feed to adjust the colour of the yolks.
  - Ghjklov 7y ago
    I wonder why that's okay for farmers to do? Let people believe that the color of the yolk is a tell for health and purchase eggs from companies they believe to have good eggs. (To my knowledge, just one example, a lot of the egg yolks I've seen from Japan are typically very orange and are said to be high quality). These farmers using color additives are in effect fooling customers and are presenting a product that isn't what it appears to be.

zaroth 7y ago

Two of my neighbors raise chickens. They both regularly drop off eggs as their supply exceeds demand. They are visually distinctive (they tend to be smaller than a supermarket “large egg” and dirtier for sure) but after cooking are entirely indistinguishable from the eggs at the store. Of course I’m very grateful for the eggs, but even they will admit it’s not for quality and quantity, but mostly a fun hobby and something to help get the kids involved with.

Retric 7y ago
It’s common for people to feed chickens the same basic diet as industrial chicken farmers do. Otherwise you need quite a bit more land per chicken. A good rule of thumb is unless their walking on grass they need feed.
- mod 7y ago
  I raised chickens and they had the run of my 40 acres. I could not tell the difference in the eggs except for the shell color and yolk color. Free-range chickens tend to have a darker, orange yolk. The taste is identical, to me at least. The meat is totally different, though.
paganel 7y ago
> but after cooking are entirely indistinguishable from the eggs at the store. I can personally feel the difference both when cooking schnitzels (I use the same meat, but the "crust" tastes different depending on the eggs used) and when making pancakes (I use the same milk and flour).

fouc 7y ago

It's fairly easy to visually tell if the egg came from a free range chicken, the yolk is a dark orange color.

Jedd 7y ago
This isn't necessarily the case. Free range chickens will produce eggs with varying colour throughout the year. Some consumers have been told that dark orange equates to healthy / free-range chickens -- so some farmers use colour additives to the feed to adjust the colour of the yolks.
- Ghjklov 7y ago
  I wonder why that's okay for farmers to do? Let people believe that the color of the yolk is a tell for health and purchase eggs from companies they believe to have good eggs. (To my knowledge, just one example, a lot of the egg yolks I've seen from Japan are typically very orange and are said to be high quality). These farmers using color additives are in effect fooling customers and are presenting a product that isn't what it appears to be.