Snapshots from the UK: British Blue Eggs
Easter is not long behind us, and I only have one comment on the matter: there is a reason why dying and dyeing sound exactly the same. All I ever get for my troubles are stained fingers and cracked shells. If the Easter Bunny is so magical, why can’t he just make a line of pastel-perfect eggs appear in the supermarket?
As it turns out, in the UK, he does. Or rather, Clarence Court delivers a happy rainbow of colorful eggs to the Sainsbury’s down the road. Not only did Britain get Cadbury Creme Eggs first, but now British blue eggs.
We are used to hens laying eggs in just two colors: white, and brown. Chic, perhaps, but also a bit drab. I only recently learned that the color of the egg was not a result of any particular process, but depended on the hen herself. "Brown" hens lay brown eggs; “white” lay white.
But several hundred years ago, missionaries to South America noticed that not only was the culture colorful; so were the eggs. In the 1920s, English hens met and married their colorful Chilean cousins, and the result was the Old Cotswold Legbar breed, which readily and naturally produces eggs hued in bright light blue, pink, green, turquoise, peach, and olive.
Finally, Easter is no longer tinged with bloody red dye. I would love to serve a festive omelet bar and offer not only a cheese selection, but a rainbow of eggs as well. The color of the eggs in the photograph are tinged green by the light of my camera, but as still life, they are an eggshell-delicate shade of sky. They are beautiful.
I love a bird with some style, and these ethically-treated hens produce an egg that I am proud to stuff into my basket—at Easter, or at the supermarket.
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11 Comments:
Now that's pretty cool. I suppose you can't get them in North America though.
On the other hand, watching kids dye their hands is really cute!
kevster at 10:23AM on 05/15/09
I used to raise http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Araucana
BrieCS at 10:50AM on 05/15/09
One of my profs has a farm in MN with chickens that lay green eggs, and the same type are sometimes available at one of the local farmers' markets. If you really want non-white or brown eggs, I'd check CSAs in your area.
thatgrrl at 10:56AM on 05/15/09
there is a reason why dying and dying are spelled the same way.
Well, they're not. It's "dying" and "dyeing." I wish there was better editing on the articles on Serious Eats; I'd definitely prefer quality over quantity.
That said, interesting article!
RunningWithScissors at 11:18AM on 05/15/09
@RunningWithScissors: Thank you! I am totally embarrassed and my introduction is shot, but I abhor errors like that, and thank you so much for correcting me! I'll never make that mistake again.
Kerry Saretsky at 12:16PM on 05/15/09
@Kerry: I didn't mean to embarrass you! I'm just grumpy in the morning before I have my coffee. Good save on the intro.
RunningWithScissors at 3:24PM on 05/15/09
You can get these in North America, just probably not at the supermarket. My dad buys green and blue eggs at a produce stand; I would suggest looking at produce stands or farmers' markets.
PanemEtCircenses at 4:49PM on 05/15/09
The eggs from my two Americauna chickens penned up in my urban backyard are sage green. Apparently, our breed can produce anything from brown to green or blue. Kinda wish we had the blue ones, but the green will do.
shandygirl at 6:15PM on 05/15/09
@ Kerry Saretsky / @ RunningWithScissors: "there is a reason why dying and dyeing sound exactly the same."
Did the post originally say "dying and dyeing," and it's been corrected since Running's post? Otherwise, Kerry you were correct from the beginning; they are, in fact, homophones, but you spelled each correctly
(which is to say, in this case, differently).
Just curious.
lillibet at 9:33PM on 05/15/09
@RunningWithScissors: You were entirely right to! I would have hated to leave it like that.
@lillibet: No, I have changed the intro! I, shamefully, originally spelled them both "dying."
I have to say, I am thrilled to have such educated readers.
@shandygirl: How cool! How lucky that you have your own pastel chickens.
Kerry Saretsky at 8:57AM on 05/16/09
Cotswold Legbars are some of the nicest eggs you can get - they also have some called Burford Browns which have the most wonderful coloured yolk
Iheartcupcakes at 12:46PM on 05/22/09