Eggs

have to agree that since there are no longer 'small eggs' (I think there used to be) there are only medium and large
it is a bit like first and standard class on trains - when there used to be first, second and third class you knew what you were paying for (and therefore getting)
my particular bugbear is the 'eggs of differant sizes ' boxes where they should really be described as small to medium.
would be interesting if those old recipes where one is told to use the weight of the eggs to determine the weight of flour/fat to use turn out acceptable.
I usually now use one extra egg (i.e. 4) in a cake recipe that calls for 3 eggs

perhaps the hens are on strike as found it too difficult to keep on with the 'large' eggs
or could it be that freerange, organic eggs are smaller because of the diet and since battery hens have disappeared (rightly so) - no more large eggs?

Grannyonce,
yes that is a consideration when baking just how many of these small eggs do you add to a cake receipt, I'm never quite sure.

I have noticed the same, only manage to get large ones now from free range eggs sold by neighbours, shops sell large eggs but they are really only medium.

I've been buying the extra-large ones from Asda for the same reason. They're the same size large eggs used to be!

I buy my eggs from our local fish shop. They are nice large eggs, most of them have double yolks. When I bake, if I'm making cakes, I weigh the eggs first and then use the equivalent amount of flour, sugar and butter. After using these eggs, if I get them from the supermarket, even the extra large ones seem small.

A work colleague brings her hens' eggs in, each with the layer's name on! Some have beautiful pale blue/green shells and they are utterly delicious with deep yellow yolks.

I can't honestly say I've noticed this. I always buy large free-range eggs, either from the supermarket or from local farm shops, and the size seems very much the same as they always were.
Sometimes my DH will bring back medium eggs if he does the shopping and they do seem very small. He always gets a ticking off for this

A large egg should weigh between 63 and 73gms - about two to two and a half ounces. The ones I buy from the supermarkets are never more than two ozs and I suspect that anything over two ounces are sold as very large and cost more - surprise surprise. I have used a recipe this morning that called for four ozs of flour and butter and two medium eggs. Medium eggs give a poor result and so I use large ones. This recipe was produced at a time when presumably a medium egg weighed what a large one weighs now! Just my two pennorth!

Thanks Greyduster. I have never seen a weight for any size of egg before so have taken a note of your information. Really useful to know.

I used to work for the Eggs Authority! Large size eggs are between 63 and 73g in weight. Back then, they used to have to be over 2. something ozs and also had to fit through a chute.

Extra large will not fit in the egg boxes so tend to break, they go off to be cakes.

They could make bigger boxes for them? just a thought.

Well as you can buy extra-large eggs in boxes, they must have got over the problem somehow!

That's a bit different! Most egg boxes fit most sizes, but need to contain them securely both without rattling around, and being able to be stacked in big piles without breaking an extra large. I was able to buy some extra large boxes online for my chicken eggs, but supermarkets go for one size of box usually. I can buy extra large eggs in my local market, but I doubt many places sell them.

Egg sizes used to be from 1 to 7, does anyone remember that?

And why, given that they're smaller anyway, don't they boil to the point I like them, so quickly? I am been giving my breakfast egg five and a half minutes which always used to produce a soft but little bit firm, egg. Now the same length of time produces a semi-liquid egg! Gawd knows how long I would have to wait for an extra large one to cook.

#grumblegrumble

And why are they all brown? Can't dye them anymore at Easter.

We have hens and ducks. The hens are ex-battery hens and they lay different size eggs in various shades of brown. When I bake cakes, they are a glorious yellow as the yolks are a good colour. The ducks lay large white eggs which I love poached on toast. The laying season is short, but I love the gentle quacking noise they make. They are in a run next to my office so I can hear them during the day.

If I boil eggs, I use an 'in the water timer' which changes colour when they are cooked.

When cooking, I use a mixture of big and small eggs. I know I should weigh them, but I just guess.

I use different colour and size egg boxes for the duck and hens' eggs as the duck eggs are very big. I sell them at the gate and have an honesty box. This has worked really well.

People stopped buying white eggs, there was an old wives' tale around that said that brown eggs were better for you, the egg industry gave up trying to disprove it. It's the reason why white eggs always used to be slightly cheaper. Eventually chicken farmers stopped breeding varieties of chicken that laid white eggs, sadly. As a child I was very contrary - I was the only one in my family who really wanted white eggs, so my mother would buy them for baking and set some aside for me.

Time of boiling is all about your cooker, and if it's gas, your gas pressure. It can even be about the height at which you live. the higher up you live, the longer it takes to get to boiling point.

[geeksmiley]

Apparently in America all the eggs are white.

As my chucks are getting older the eggs they lay are getting lighter.

Is this the equivalent of humans going grey?

Extra large - just think of the poor hens who lay them!

When our hens have laid an egg they let you know with a loud "chu-u-u-uck chuck chuck" going on for ages. So I sometimes wonder if it's because it hurts.
At the moment we've got some thieving magpies pecking the eggs. At first we thought it was the hens themselves, but now think it's magpies.

Sodding magpies. I hate the things.

The size of eggs depends to a large extent on the breed of chicken. I expect there are fewer breeds used for commercial egg production. My main bugbear with shop eggs is that even the "free range" ones simply aren't as good (tasty and fresh) as home grown free range eggs, which suggests to me that the chickens' diet isn't as good.