I just read an interesting statistic about the percentage of brown vs white eggs sold - and it is apparently very regional with the most brown eggs being sold in New England. I think this caught my attention because I had this “feeling” that I was seeing more brown eggs on the shelves - and I recently moved to Boston . . . .so I’m curious -
Where are you from? Which color shell do you buy? Do you sense that you see more of one color or another at your grocery store?
It’s not that I don’t believe the article (industry stats are what’s happening) - but I’m curious if 'foodies" tend to one or another on top of the regional stats.
Different regions feel differently about brown vs. white eggs. Just ask New England.
“There’s a regional preference for shell color,” Jones explained. “People have all kinds of hangups about food, and the egg industry is very cognizant of it and they ensure that whatever the needs are in that region, it’s what you’re seeing in your egg case.”
The proof is in the numbers. Nielsen tracks U.S. egg sales in nine regions. All heavily favor white-shelled eggs, except one: New England (Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts).
In New England, 51.1 percent of the eggs sold in December 2017 were brown eggs.
The region with the next-highest ratio of brown-to-white egg sales was the Middle Atlantic (New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey), where 11.2 percent of the eggs sold were brown. The percentage declines in other regions.
What makes brown eggs so popular among New Englanders?
“It could be in part because they may have more red hens in New England,” Dresner guessed. “So it could simply be that locally those eggs are more accessible.”
I have heard that the color of the shells depends on what the hens are fed. I buy the organic eggs at the local store. Sometimes they’re brown, more often they’re white.
I understand that the color of the eggs is based on the breed of chicken. There are some generalizations that people tend to make but there are exceptions to all of them (e.g. brown feathered chickens lay brown eggs, same with ear-lobe color (yes chickens have ear lobes)). So I don’t think you can change the feed of a white egg chicken to alter the color.
I do think diet changes the intensity/color of the yolk.
What part of the world are you in bcc? (state? - doesn’t have to be specific - just curious since the article indicated availability was regionally dependent)
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
5
As I’ve understood it, shell colour is dependent on breed. In the UK, the vast majority of supermarket eggs are brown - industry polling has consistently found that we Britons feel that brown is more, erm, rustic and natural. So that’s what the supermarket sells us.
The prettiest eggs I know are the very pale blue shells laid by Old Cotswold Legbar hens and sold in our supermarkets from Clarence Court Ltd (who also do a very deep brown shelled egg)
I get brown, blue and white eggs from a farmer friend. Eggshell color is determined by the breed of chicken. The yolks of his eggs are a deep orange bc of what he feeds them. Makes my cakes and pastries a beautiful color.
I am so spoiled by farm fresh eggs that I do avoid eating them at restaurants. Grocery store eggs from unhappy hens are very unappetizing to me.
I must say most eggs I bought are brown eggs whether they are red labels (« happy » chicken that are allowed to run freely) or organic. I live in France.
I’m in Philadelphia and alternate between white and brown eggs. Both colors are equally available.
Interestingly, I recently read an article about the differences between the two and why brown eggs are more expensive. White chickens lay white eggs and red chickens lay brown eggs. The brown are more expensive because the chickens are larger and hence eat more and lay larger eggs. I can’t recall where I saw the article, but I’ll see if I can track it down and link to it because I’m sure I have badly summarized it.
(Boston here) In the winter, we get eggs from a CSA-like service called Farmers to You; in the summer, we try to buy from local farmers’ markets. Both of these give brown eggs. When Farmers to You doesn’t have eggs, we usually get blue eggs from the store.
Here in Washington state I buy both white and brown equally. There are plenty of brown eggs in the markets but there are more white. Blues can usually only be found direct from the farmer with a few exceptions at small, local “whole food” type stores.
meatn3
(equal opportunity eater in the NC Triangle)
19
I’m in the Piedmont of NC. White eggs are predominant in conventional grocery stores. The brown eggs found there are generally more expensive and cage free, etc. and represent perhaps 5% of the offerings.
The demographics in my part of town represent modest wages. When I pop into the same grocery chain in a better off neighborhood the selection of brown (more expensive) eggs increases.
At farmers markets or stores like WF there is a much larger selection of brown eggs. And a much higher price tag.
Usually get my eggs fro Costco. Interesting enough, my neighbor who raises Silkie black chicken came and gave me 8 eggs 2 days ago. They were different colors, from white to brown… My son cooked some this morning for breakfast , scrambled with cheddar cheese, shishito peppers and uncured turkey bacon served with croissant. He thinks they are creamier. I cannot tell difference, was feeling queasy from Percocet taken because I hurt my back yesterday.
It is the breed of chicken that determines color of the eggs.
