Interesting Egg Facts

During my visit to the North Carolina State Fair earlier this week, I picked up a brochure from the Good Egg Project and Got to Be NC program which included some interesting information on eggs, egg farming and egg recipes. Although eggs have gotten a bad rap in some circles, they can be part of a healthy diet and are an excellent source of protein. Here's a summary of some of the egg facts from the brochure:

*If you leave a raw egg out at room temperature for a day, it will age as much as a refrigerated egg will age in a week.

*Eggs that are 1 or 2 weeks old will peel more easily when hard-cooked. The reason is that the egg's air cell next to the shell gets larger as the egg ages.

*Hard-cooked eggs will last one week when stored in their shell in the refrigerator. Raw eggs will keep their good quality for 3 to 4 weeks when stored in the refrigerator.

*It's against Federal Law to feed hormones to poultry, so all commercially available eggs are hormone-free even if not labeled as such.

*North Carolina farmers have about 9 million laying hens, which produce about 7 1/2 million eggs per day. That's a LOT of eggs!

If you're like me, you like splashing your scrambled eggs with a good hot sauce or perhaps some ketchup, and on some days I'm in the mood for a zesty salsa with my eggs. When it comes to sauces or condiments for eggs, in my opinion simpler is better: I look for straightforward, "clean" flavors with a mild to medium heat level, rather than more complex multi-ingredient condiments or fiery heat. I think this is probably because I tend to eat eggs for breakfast rather than lunch or dinner, and in the morning my palate prefers "easier" flavors. I also drink coffee with breakfast, and to my taste coffee and fiery hot sauce don't go together. With that in mind, for breakfast eggs I recommend Durn Good Hot Sauce or any of the Texas Pet Hot Sauce varieties for their honest peppery flavor and pleasant heat. If I'm in the mood for a spicy ketchup, my choice often is Melinda's Jalapeno Ketchup. And if it's a salsa that I'm craving, I select the mild version of Pepper Dog Salsa for Southwestern flavor (try it on Huevos Rancheros or breakfast burritos) or Bubba's Special Sauce for garden-fresh tomato flavor (great with omelets and quiche).

If you have a favorite sauce or condiment for eggs, let me know by leaving a comment.

Zestfully yours,
Gloria