Egg terminology can be confusing.  So can figuring out what the best eggs to use are.  When you’re buying a few dozen at a time, and can go to the farm yourself to pick them up, it’s much easier to feel confident that they were raised in a way that you are happy to support.  But when you look at egg labels in a supermarket, or try to buy large cases of eggs wholesale, it’s not as easy to figure out how your eggs were raised.  That lack of transparency is not always an accident, and healthy-sounding claims are attached to eggs all the time, without necessarily meaning a lot.

When the eggs are American Humane Certified, the designation “free-range” means a lot: hens are not only never in cages while indoors, but they must have a minimum amount of space while indoors.   This gives them plenty of room to roam and plenty of time to do it.  Further, the fields themselves must be rotated yearly, so that the ground has time to replenish itself.  This means that the chickens are free to supplement their diet with worms, grubs, bugs and anything else they find.  As you can imagine, a chicken with a richer diet lays a tastier egg.  Deep gold yolks, thick shells and tight whites are the first thing you’ll notice when cracking into these eggs.   The flavor difference is significant.

Our eggs are from hens raised on a hillside next to Owasco Lake in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. Every single egg is collected, graded, and packed by Dwight Martin and his family.