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May 11, 2008

Eggs large and small - and many!

A hen lays an egg about every 28 hours. Judging by the number of eggs I have these days, I am thinking they are lyaing an egg ever 12 hours, but that's really impossible :) They do however, lay eggs every once in a while that are MONSTERS. These are usually double-yolkers - 2 yolks and the same amount of white more or less. These eggs are not good candidates for hatching. They are good for eating!
These eggs are pretty large. Here is the green egg from above next to a typical extra large egg.
The guinea hens began laying this week too. Their eggs are banty-sized and the shells feel very thick like a duck's. I can't imagine anything preventing us from eating them, but we haven't yet. Guineas don't seem to care where they lay their eggs - I find them scattered on the floor of their coop even though I have set up a quiet place for them to lay.
Here are some quinea eggs alongside that big green egg.
The green egg is just over 3" long. I can't sell these eggs - they are too big to fit in the cartons! They are too big to fit in my poaching pan (my favorite way to cook eggs). With the double yolks you have to have a lenient recipe to allow for the extra.
I decided to make custard. We get our milk from the dairy farm where we get our hay, so the recipe is those 3 large eggs, 4C fresh whole milk, some honey given to me by a co-worker and a dash of vanilla. Scald the milk and mix the rest while it cooks. Allow the milk to cool a bit then add it little by little to the egg mixture (do it slowly or the eggs will cook in the milk). Oil your pan and insert it in a larger pan. Fill inner pan with custard mix, fill outer pan with water, and carefully put it all in your oven. Mine's at 350 degrees. When the mix is solid, it's done! Make some homemade whipped cream, or cut up some fruit, or just sprinkle with cinnamon for a nice treat.
My egg customers don't demand the medium eggs as much as they do the large and extra large sizes, so the mediums are used at home. I think they make the perfect devilled egg. I like to mix some spicy ingredients in the mix like horseradish, hot mustard or rice vinegar. Gives them a little bit of an edge. I haven't even shown you the 5 gallon buckets of eggs Gary has stored in the root cellar for when the pigs arrive. It is certainly the season for eggs around here. What are your favorite ways of using eggs?

Posted by roosterh at May 11, 2008 9:43 AM

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