Alana Shock, from Alana's Food & Wine, first introduced me to these eggs (albeit from a different farmer, who I'll talk about later), whose beauty I can't seem to fully capture no matter how many different settings I try with my camera. Ameraucana eggs come from a rather proud and stately-looking chicken, which you can view by clicking here. The eggs range in color from soft blue to a light olive green and have a very rich flavor. I was waxing poetic about how delicious they were at work the other day and a few coworkers said they thought all eggs tasted the same!? This is completely untrue. Taste an average grocery store egg next to a farm fresh egg and you will never believe the difference. Believe me, even if the delivery truck says "Happy Chicken," those are not happy chickens.
But, I'm willing to bet the chickens at 2 Silos Farms are happy chickens. 2 Silos pastures their organic poultry, which means the chickens receive a portion of their diet in the natural, chicken instinct way - by digging and scratching around, eating seeds and bugs and worms. And any other stray item that might find its way onto the ground. Ask anyone whose ever "dressed" a chicken and you will discover some very interesting things about the eating habits of chickens - but I digress. 2 Silos supplies Whole Foods with its specialty eggs, available in the produce section, and they have recently begun supplying Weiland's as well, with about 5-6 variets of eggs in these cool, 1/2 dozen containers. The Ameraucana eggs were about $2.25 a 1/2 dozen, but the less exciting eggs were about half that price. You can read more about 2 Silos farm at their website; be sure to read these staggering health-related egg statistics (scroll down).
A note about Ameraucana eggs - they have an unusually firm yolk, naturally. I tried to poach a few and thought I was crazy until Alana told me she encountered the same thing. Just so you know when cooking them.
Try them out. Do the fried egg challenge. I know you'll be pleasantly surprised, and I'm willing to bet you will never buy an 80 cent dozen of bleak grocery store eggs again.
