When faced with a choice between white or brown eggs, I will almost always choose brown. I couldn't really tell you why, except that my mother bought brown eggs and, to my eye, they are prettier (though not as pretty as blue ones!). But is there really any difference apart from color?
As far as hue, the difference lies in the breed of chicken. In general, white chickens lay white eggs, brown chickens lay brown eggs, and blue eggs come from a South American breed called Araucana. When it comes to taste and nutrition, however, there is no difference. Color is not an indicator of quality.
Yet preferences persist, perhaps due to misinformation, tradition, or aesthetic attraction. According to poultry farming publications of the 1910s and 20s, there existed a strong geographic divide; New Yorkers and San Franciscans were said to prefer white eggs, while Bostonians insisted upon brown. Even today, many consumers expect brown eggs to be more "natural." Brown eggs also tend to be more expensive, as the hens that lay white eggs are smaller, eat less, and are therefore preferred by commercial producers.
When we asked our local "eggspert" (ahem) Erik Knutzen of Homegrown Evolution for his perspective on the matter, he had this to say: "There is no difference in taste or nutrition based on color. But there is a big difference in flavor, nutrition and texture between eggs from hens raised on pasture and all other eggs. A 'pastured' egg comes from a chicken that's allowed to do what chickens want to do naturally – wander around in the sun and open air, scratch around in the dirt and eat bugs, vegetation and supplemental feed."
Where can you find pastured eggs? Ask at your farmers' market, check out Eat Wild's directory of pasture-based farms, or, as Knutzen says, "Better yet, if you've got a yard, you can raise a few hens of your own. It ain't hard, and you'll know where your egg came from." To get started raising your own chickens, hop on over to our sister site Re-Nest for Knutzen's How To Build a Backyard Chicken Coop tutorial.
(Erik Knutzen is the co-author, with his wife Kelly Coyne, of The Urban Homestead and blogs at www.homegrownevolution.com)
Related: Poached, Fried, and Scrambled: All About Eggs!
(Image: Flickr member woodleywonderworks licensed under Creative Commons, F.E. Wright via Flickr member perpetualplum licensed under Creative Commons)
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I faced this quandary this morning at the farmers market! ...and now I know
Pastured? Oddly, back home on the ranch, we didn't let chickens roam around the pasture, as they'd get eaten by coyotes. Seems an odd choice of word. Barn yard is more likely.
I wish feather color was related to egg color, because then my chickens would lay black-and-white polka dot eggs!
It's actually not feather color, but earlobe color (the red or white fleshy spots on the side of the chicken's head) that indicate if the chicken lays white or brown eggs.
If a chicken has white earlobes it is probably a white egg layer. If it has red or other colored earlobes it probably lays brown eggs. So for example, the Black Minorca in the bottom center of the posted picture would actually lay white eggs.
There are some exceptions to this rule, like the Araucanas (green/blue eggs and no visible earlobes at all) and some bantams, but generally the earlobe thing is a good indicator.
I keep hens at home, they lay pink, beige, blue and chocolate brown eggs. All of them are equally absolutely delicious as the hens are allowed to roam free in our garden and thus have access to all the dirt, bugs and worms they could possibly wish for. The darker yellow/orange the egg yolk the better quality/flavour of the egg.
I am told that in Italy the egg yolk is known as "il rosso" or "the red of the egg" which goes to show that the better the egg the deeper and richer the colour of the yolk.
Rebepe beat me to it!
I think it is one of the more adorable aspects of chickens that ear color determines egg color.
"Brown eggs are local eggs, and local eggs are fresh!" At least according to old Boston marketing....
I buy brown eggs to support genetic diversity in chickens.
i have noticed that brown eggs tend to have yellower yolks than white eggs.
I remember as a kid telling my father whilst he was cooking brown eggs, "No Dad, I want AMERICAN eggs!". For some reason I didn't think brown eggs were "american". Ha!
@m_j_s - ANYTIME this debate comes up at my mom's house (we're from Boston, my steps are from New York), I walk around humming that commercial. It was on TV, so it must be true! LOL.
Thanks for this! It was really interesting. I always bought white eggs and never thought about it. Maybe I'll start getting other kinds since it doesn't really matter :)
We have three breeds of hens in our backyard and love noticing the differences even among their 'brown' eggs. One lays bigger darker eggs, one is pinker, one is small. All have bigger yolk to white ratio than store bought white eggs. I might be a little biased, but I do believe our eggs are the most delicious in the world too.
As a child I thought that white eggs existed just on tv or in Richard Scarry's books, since in Italy brown eggs are the norm (actually, I hadn't heard of blue chicken eggs till now). I confirm that in Italian the yolk is called the 'red' of egg (it's also called 'tuorlo'). Here in Czech Republic eggs used to be mostly white and the yolk is called the 'yellow' of the egg.
I love the green eggs, and buy them when I can. I know they taste the same, but they are so CUTE.
Like Pich, up until recently, without ever really thinking about it, I thought that those photogenic white eggs only existed in storybooks.
Here in Australia brown eggs are the norm.
We usually shop at the local food co-op where most of the eggs are from free-range or cage-free or whatever you want to call it, non-cooped-up (giggle) chickens. The only difference I've noticed between the two colors is that the brown eggs, in general, tend to be fresher than the white.
The neighbor has a great flock of girls who lay a kaleidoscope of egg colors. All have deep orange yolks, very firm whites and lots of flavor. The green/blue eggs seem slightly smaller with thicker shells. The brown eggs are much larger than the blues or whites, have slightly thinner shells and taste just as good. However, the white eggs look so much like the factory eggs that I, probably mistakenly, associate them with blander, thin shelled, commerical eggs.
brown eggs are ubiquitous in New England, and at Easter the grocery stores "import" white eggs for dyeing.
All other things being equal, I would totally pick white eggs - for the novelty value! In the UK, the myth that brown eggs were somehow healthier went so far that white eggs were something I only ever saw on the continent, when I was a child. (I suspect there may be premium brands available these days - have to check that.)
In my Asian country, white eggs are usually produced by free-range chickens. Yes, they tend to be smaller though.
At the market, we usually see dark brown eggs or light brown eggs and that's it. I prefer the darker ones.
My mom used to tell me that the dark brown ones have stronger shells - less likely to crack from just a slight bump on the way home :)
As exciting as it would be to have your own fresh eggs daily from your own backyard flock, remember that chickens, too, need veterinary care. In mass production settings, chickens get a range of vaccinations (commercial Layers in the US get vaccinated against Merck's disease, newcastle disease, infectious bronchitis, infectious laryngotracheitis, & Avian Encephalomyelitis) Also, in commercial industry, these layers are only producing eggs for a year or two before they become campbell's soup.
Backyard flocks don't often get vaccinated for anything - but if you live in an area where there are commercial poultry operations (or wild ducks - they tend to harbor the same diseases) - if your chickens get sick, it could be a major public health issue. (avian influenza, anyone?) So make sure that if you do have sick chickens to contact your local vet. Also, if your production drops off, consider the fact that your chicken probably have some internal parasites (they're eating off the ground!) and that a vet could give you the drugs you need to have happy productive chickens.
Thanks so much for this breakdown! We were in Italy last year and cooked some (brown) supermarket eggs. They were bigger, with dark yolks andvtastedvdelicious. I've been wondering ever since why they were so much better, and now I know!
Time to search up some free range/pasture eggs!
I am not sure why this is, but my father, brother and myself tend to get an upset stomach from white store bought eggs. I suspect that those tend to come from overbred, mass-housed chickens, and the brown eggs my mom always bought (and now raise) were from local farms. I also notice that the shell on the white store-bought eggs are so thin, which might contribute to easier bacterial penetration. The shells on my mom's eggs, though, are so hard I have to slam them against the counter to break open! I encourage raising your own, they are so enjoyable and the eggs can't be beat!
There is so much misinformation on this out there. There is NO difference between white and brown eggs, it's all about the chickens that lay them, how they are feed, how they live, etc, that leads to the taste difference.
I work at the farmers market and have seen people walk right past perfectly tasty, healthy, farm fresh eggs because they were white. That's also part of the reason my family only raises brown egg laying hens - because people think they are healthier, and they are much easier to sell. People associate the brown color with health/organics/etc. It's so frustrating!
My Grandma had a brown chicken - it laid white eggs
We choose our eggs based on price -- we buy the cheapest carton. Colour is irrelevant. But then, so is source. Eggs are eggs.
@Geckomayhem - apart from all the ethical reasons (cheapest carton usually also means Cage Hens), there is definitely a difference to an egg based on what the hen is eating/how they live.
We have chickens (almost 60, all different breeds) and our brown eggs are more mellow in flavour than our white eggs, our pink eggs are very sharp and "eggy" in flavour, and our blue eggs are slightly sweet with a gentle nutty flavour. This is solely because the different breeds are fed different grains/greens based on what is best for that breed to digest, and because they each have their own pens and so slightly different environments. As little a difference as the amount of sun a hen gets can alter their laying habits.
It's not scientific but it's true - a happy chicken lays a better tasting egg than an unhappy one. :)
In my neighborhood, the difference between white eggs and brown is about a dollar. Since the eggs are from the SAME farm, I buy the cheaper white eggs. I blame the 70s. All that brown. Brown rice, brown bread, brown is better for you. I've saved a lot of money on eggs since learning there is no nutritional difference!
I buy eggs from the 'bulk' cartons at the local food co-op. I bring my own carton and I get to pick and choose which eggs I want! I always get a nice mixture of brown, white and everything in between, some have speckles or other multicolored shells. I know the nutritional value is not indicated by the shell, but it's so pretty to see all the colors. And I'm getting very fresh eggs from well-treated hens.
When I have my own place I'm totally getting some hens.
"there is a big difference in flavor, nutrition and texture between eggs from hens raised on pasture and all other eggs"
You can say that again. When I was 10 years old or so, my family bought some chickens so we could get eggs. Up until that point in my life, I had always thought I didn't like eggs. One egg from these birds and my life was changed. Eggs from the supermarket are pale and watery and flavorless. These eggs were rich and thick and tasted AMAZING.
Do yourself a favor and find where you can get fresh eggs from your local farmers. You'll be glad you did.
@ m_j_s72, we had the same ad campaign in Maine! And I sing that song in my head everytime I'm buying eggs at the super market. But I live in Brooklyn now and I noticed that the brown eggs I'm buying are indeed from Maine, so not really fulfilling the "local eggs" part of the song....
Call me crazy, but I revere my food. I want my eggs to come from chickens that have NOT have their beaks cut off. I am mostly vegetarian and the only time I will eat meat is if that's what is served at someone else's house. I won't embarrass anyone by asking what the menu will be, so there are times I don't know where my food came from, but people's feelings are important too.
I try to search out the most humane ovo/lacto items I can.