Back in April, right before the height of Easter season approached, I (Tricia) was asked to attend a farm tour put on by the Ohio Poultry Association. Given my work background in OSU Extension and 4-H I was fairly certain I knew a thing or two about eggs and their production, but was I ever blown out of the water with how little I really knew. I learned so much those few days about eggs, production and preparation. In fact, I have gone in circles about how to bring you information from the trip without a bunch of facts, figures and verbiage.
I have settled at last, on bringing you a dozen fun facts I learned from the trip, and a dozen of my favorite OAMM egg recipes on this, National Egg Day! I hope you find these facts as fascinating as I do and please don’t hesitate to ask questions as well!
1. Retail eggs and restaurant eggs are different. Restaurant eggs are from younger birds, these eggs present better when cooked and plated than retail eggs. Who knew?
3. The quicker the egg is cooled, the safer it will be.
4. Eggs laid this morning, will be at your grocer’s shelf tomorrow afternoon! (In most cases).
5. The points are always placed down in the egg carton so that the egg rests properly, with the air pocket in the wider end.
6. Eggs are stored at 40 degrees.
7. I met a farmer, one man (many farms) who produces ALL of the shelled eggs for every Bob Evan’s restaurant in the country. Right here in Ohio. Crazy. This fact alone gave me a lot of mental fuel for thinking about “what is local?”
8. Ohio is the 2nd largest egg producer, after Iowa.
9. When cooking eggs, you should prepare omelets at high heat, scrambled on low heat and fried eggs on medium high. 10. The holidays, November-December, are the highest volume months for egg production, not March-April during Easter. That is A LOT of baking!
11. Farmers adjust the feeding schedule/feed formula to increase or decrease production.
- Expiration date (30 days from packing date according to FDA regulations). {Yes, you can use them for longer, technically}
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First 3 numbers= day of the year (1-365);
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Letter number = plant number; and
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Packaging number;
- These numbers allow them to trace the eggs back all the way to a specific farm/packaging line. If anything were to ever go wrong, they could identify the source quickly and easily.
A Dozen Eggs
How about twelve tantalizing egg recipes that are perfect make-ahead and freeze meals!
Simple Egg Cups
Slow Cooker Breakfast Frittata
Spinach Mushroom Breakfast Wrap
Santa Fe Breakfast Quesadillas
Bacon Broccoli Quiche
Kid Approved Breakfast Burritos
Light Southwest Breakfast Pizza
Papa Eddie’s Crepes Spinach, Bacon, Feta Frittata
Disclosure: My accommodations were arranged and taken care of by the Ohio Poultry Association, but I was not obligated to write about this trip. I loved it so much I couldn’t NOT write about it. All the opinions in this post are mine, want to know more about how I facilitate reviews, view my full disclosure policy!