Page 14 - Sonoma County Gazette April 2020

EGGS - Nutrition in a Tiny Package
By Peter Posert & Friends!
We cook. When everything is topsy-turvy, I often just retreat back to my kitchen. If I’m sick or feeling down (or quarantined!), I often make myself a plain old scrambled egg sandwich.
Conventional white eggs are still highly sought after. These are the joy of bakers
Sometimes on the weekend I splurge and make poached eggs and lay them
on a bed of spinach layered on buttered or avocado toast. When the times are tough and I have that warm steaming scrambled egg sandwich in my hand, I breathe deeply and take stock of what is good
in my life, look down and there is that scrambled egg sandwich!
Jonathan Mahrt, the family holds back the eggs from the youngest layers to meet the requests and orders from specialty bakers who know.
Do you have a food for those moments?
Some folks have soup, others make waffles. What is the feel-good food that you gravitate to? Maybe the whole planet could use a scrambled egg sandwich right about now.
Your locally grown, organic, cage free,
The multi-generational egg-growing Mahrt family of Petaluma
don’t just exemplify the word “institution,” because they go way beyond that simple description. Their eggs are my answer to what we need right now. More scrambled egg sandwiches!
The tasting group decided to explore and de-code the myriad eggs available. We ran all the egg options
non- gmo, best egg.
scrambled for color and texture and whipped in a spectacular lemon souffle test (Yes, we made 5 exact lemon souffles, each with their own egg base, and ate them all!). Here are our results in no particular order:
The family’s operation straddles the fine line between specialty growers doing everything right and a large enough scale to meet the demands of their commercial clients who sell their eggs to you. For 3 generations, the Mahrt’s have meticulously grown great local eggs in Sonoma County.
Lemon souffle: Bright flavors that carried through the cooking, with a delicious and rich egg tone. Uncle Eddy’s eggs shinned throughout our tasting at every level. These are superior eggs at a great price.
There are five different kinds of eggs, each with its own unique production values and brands. Over 30 years ago, they were the first commercial growers in the area to make whole-systems environmental changes to their farming
Judy’s Family Farm: Organic, non-gmo, certified humane, cage free. Hard Boiled: Mild soft egg flavor with a lovely texture and mild finish. Scrambled: These eggs scrambled nicely up with a rich complex flavor. Lemon souffle: Uneven texture but carried some egg flavor through the finish. Judy’ Family Farm eggs are great organic eggs for everyday uses.
Super Egg: Cage free, naturally nutrient enhanced. Hard Boiled: Rich deep complex flavors with a strong lingering finish. Scrambled: Creamy, buttery and soft, very good. A crowd favorite. Lemon souffle: Super firm structure that strongly held up. Moderate to good flavor. Super Eggs are spectacular eggs for discerning palates and complex dishes and absolutely worth the extra buck.
Rock Island: Cage Free, Fertile, no antibiotics. Hard Boiled: Complex
rich and deep delicious flavor - very good. Scrambled: Strong mouth feel with a mild texture. Lemon souffle: Less structure in the finished souffle and the lemon tone carried the flavor. Rock Island eggs are an all-around, good, serviceable, and affordable egg.
Petaluma Pastures: Organic, pasture raised, free range. Hard boiled: Delicious, full bodied flavor that stood out. Scrambled: More assertive with a delicious and bold full-bodied mouthfeel. Lemon souffle: Silken and delicious with moderate structural integrity. Very good. Petaluma Pastures are superior eggs with great flavor and texture for cooking and baking.
of the yolks has little-to-no bearing on actual taste, other
than the impression one gets from more coloration.
Yolk color depends primarily on xanthophyll pigments
found in the feed the chickens eat. When the
feed has more pigments, the yolks are darker and when they have less
pigments, the yolks will be lighter.
Knowing what egg to buy didn’t seem as complicated as, say, which apple for a pie. They are all great. But still, we found that spending an extra dollar or two is worth the expense if you want the best for your everyday uses.
Yet for many people, the appearance of food can effect our perceived taste.
Getting your eggs from a local grower, one with an eye towards holistic and ecological practices, is an even better choice. You can take that to your kitchen, everyday, when you need a healthy and nutritious pick-me- up, and on scrambled egg sandwich days, too.
Judy & Steve Mahrt
everywhere, especially if they are from younger hens. According to
Back in the day, there were just eggs in the store, big white ones and
lord knows how they were grown. Then “exotic” brown eggs appeared.
Now there are choices; cage free, non-gmo, vegetarian diet, free range, nutrient enhanced,
etc. and good old large white eggs. Knowing what to buy is a complete mystery.
through three tests; hard boiled for pure flavor,
Uncle Eddy’s Vegetarian Diet: Non-GMO, Cage
Free Eggs. Hard boiled: Full rich flavor with a balanced profile. Very nice. Scrambled: Richer tasting and plain old delicious.
practices. The Mahrts and their brands are the good guys.
I went to visit them at their Skippy’s Egg Store in Petaluma.
First we discussed yolks
The experts know the yellowness
14 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 4/20