Waitrose eggs

[curlywurlyfi]

Went to stay at the weekend with some friends who have an organic beef farm on the cliffs above Dartmouth. It's the most ludicrously idyllic spot - green rolling hills, blue sparkly sea, happy red cows - and has the most ridiculously bucolic name - Fountain Violet Farm. Emma + Ed have been living here for six years, and have been certified Soil Association Organic for four.

Fountain Violet Top Field, with the day-marker for Dartmouth harbour just visible centre left, and the sea on the right

Emma + Ed recently decided that the beef wasn't bringing in enough for them to live on (they have two small children), so they have opted to produce organic eggs for Waitrose. Waitrose's own brand are Colombian Blacktail eggs. This is what the box looks like:

Waitrose Colombian Blacktail eggs

and this is what the hens look like:

They are very friendly and viewed my boots as a fabulous new food-source.

The chickens live in here:

Look at their fantastic view! over to the right, though it's not really visible in the photo, is the sea. Soil Association regulations allow for 1000 birds per acre. Ed has given them comfortably more than that.

Oscar in the hen field

While we were there, the hens were having a bit of a turn and had stopped laying. Was it bronchitis? Was it general grumpiness at the change of season? Not much telling with chickens, but since the farm is organic, no antibiotics allowed; instead, the hens were treated with homeopathic remedies and a little light encouragement. "Lay, you feathery wasters, or you'll be turkey twizzlers before I can say 'mechanically reconstituted'."

Fountain Violet supplies 3500 eggs per week to Waitrose. This is about 60% of the eggs the farm yields: the rest, which are too small/too large/too misshapen/double yolkers go variously to local bakers or just into the willing tummies of family and friends. Their dogs have amazingly glossy coats, too. We had eggs benedict with hollandaise on Sunday morning - two eggs each, and each of those a double-yolker. It's OK, I always thought free-flowing arteries were over-rated anyway. The eggs are vastly different to battery eggs - yolks a deep glowing saffron-yellow; in fact, pretty much the colour of this smily:

Waitrose sell about 120,000 Colombian Blacktail eggs a week, so if you buy a box, that means there's about a 1:34 chance that one of your eggs will be from The Paradise That Is Fountain Violet! And I like to support my friends.

Fi

(note: there is a chance that my numbers are off, so I'm leaving it to my factchecker to verify + amplify.)

edited: because I can't upload images

Edited March 16, 2005 by curlywurlyfi (log)

[oldschooltie]

why aren't they called "browntails"?

[curlywurlyfi]

why aren't they called "browntails"?

I know, it's a bit odd. Some of them do have a couple of black feathers in their tails, but by and large... maybe it's so they match the cows on the farm, who are Devon Reds, though they are clearly not red at all, thusly:

mmmm - shortribs...

[therese]

Any dairy side to the operation?

[Gary Marshall]

the rest, which are too small/too large/too misshapen/double yolkers

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despite being a practically wurzel gummidge-esque country bumpkin compared to savvy metropolitans like yourselves i am puzzled....

how do you tell an eggs got a double yolk until you break it?

cheers

gary

[slacker]

Call me a pedantic pedant, but 'we' had eggs benedict 'with' hollandaise?

Mmm?

We had Eggs Benedict, I think.

I had extra Hollandaise, but then I was making it:-

Some White Wine vinegar - about as much as...

Juice of 1 lemon, which you also need

Heat in a pan till simmering, then beat into:-

Two Colombian Blacktail Yolks (=four in this case) separated ready in a mixing bowl with a dessertspoon of white sugar.

add a large pinch salt, loads of ground black pepper (rustic recipe )

Then melt:-

1 pat (250g/½lb) Salted Butter in the pan

When melted, add in a big stream to the yolk mixture, whisking as you go.

It will thicken beautifully, but not quite enough.

Balance the bowl on the top of your egg poaching pan, and allow it to warm as the water simmers. Whisk occasionally until thick, but get it too hot and you will need to start again. Aim for the consistency of thick custard (Bird's i.e., not Anglaise)

Adjust the seasoning: clearly I like my hollandaise sweet and peppery. Be sure to try often as you poach the eggs. Cook's privilege.

Edited because you can't type in smilies. Why not?

Edited March 16, 2005 by slacker (log)

[curlywurlyfi]

Any dairy side to the operation?

No - purely beef. though apparently until about 50 years ago Devon Reds were bred for dairy. They only have a few head of cattle - about 90 at the moment, which isn't really a workable dairy size (as it's turned out, it's not really been a workable beef size either ).

[therese]

the rest, which are too small/too large/too misshapen/double yolkers

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despite being a practically wurzel gummidge-esque country bumpkin compared to savvy metropolitans like yourselves i am puzzled....

how do you tell an eggs got a double yolk until you break it?

cheers

gary

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Candling (transilluminating) eggs reveals all sorts of "flaws".

Check out this site for some cool images of candled eggs.

I'm pretty sure that big producers have some cool high speed way of doing this, possibly not even using transillumition.

[curlywurlyfi]

how do you tell an eggs got a double yolk until you break it? 

Ed uses the tried-and-tested 'if it's bigger than the size of my fist, it's probably got a double-yolk' method of selection.

seriously - they are just bigger.

[therese]

We can actually buy double yolk eggs here, though I've never done so. And I can't recall where exactly I've seen them for sale---most likely at a farmer's market.

Supposedly some breeds double yolk more often than others, and there's some association with younger age of the hen.

Do your friends have much trouble getting the hens to lay in the coop (as opposed to under any spare bit of cover they can find)? Of course, it doesn't look like there is too much cover in the field you show them in, so maybe not (if that field is fenced).

[curlywurlyfi]

Do your friends have much trouble getting the hens to lay in the coop (as opposed to under any spare bit of cover they can find)? Of course, it doesn't look like there is too much cover in the field you show them in, so maybe not (if that field is fenced).

Field is fenced and electrified (to deter foxes and badgers) to the point where if you grasp it hard without thinking, it will knock you to the ground.

They did have to teach the ladies to lay in the coop. Ed did tell me how, but I was suffering factoid-overload. (sorry!) They've created a little bit of cover in the field - some sturdy log piles - but they're basically out in the open on top of a hill. this is not, apparently, ideal for Columbian Blacktails, who'd really like to be in a thickly covered forest, but then as Ed pointed out, you'd never find any of the eggs, thus slightly negating the point of chicken cultivating.

[Duncan]

Waitrose's own brand are Colombian Blacktail eggs.

That isn't the only variety of own-brand eggs which Waitrose sells.

I'm sorry to say I prefer their Cotswold Legbar eggs mostly because they come in pretty shades of greeny blue.

Maybe I should try doing a blind taste test sometime to see whether the interesting colour really does make them taste any different than the Colombian Blacktail ones.

[therese]

I'm sorry to say I prefer their Cotswold Legbar eggs mostly because they come in pretty shades of greeny blue.

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Those green blue eggs are very pretty. A vendor at one of the local farmer's markets here sells eggs by the dozen that are sort of mix and match, all various sizes and shell colors.

When I was a child on my grandmother's farm one of our tasks was to follow some of the more persistent non-coop laying hens and figure out where they were holed up. Usually by the time we'd found the egg it was no longer usable, but we still either disrupted the nest or got my grandmother to do it so as to discourage repeat visits.

Remember Jemima Puddleduck and her efforts to lay away from intervention?

[slacker]

She met a rather gingery-whiskered long-tailed gentleman who seduced her whilst he pretended to read his newspaper.

[SamanthaF]

Waitrose's own brand are Colombian Blacktail eggs.

That isn't the only variety of own-brand eggs which Waitrose sells.

I'm sorry to say I prefer their Cotswold Legbar eggs mostly because they come in pretty shades of greeny blue.

Maybe I should try doing a blind taste test sometime to see whether the interesting colour really does make them taste any different than the Colombian Blacktail ones.

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We buy the Cotswold Legbar eggs. V nice with fat orange yolks. Sometimes double yolkers.

[MobyP]

They are very friendly and viewed my boots as a fabulous new food-source.

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If you don't make this your avatar immediately (and I do mean this second!) I'm going on hunger strike! The Felicitous Feet of Fi!

I'm massively impressed by the amount of space those birds have. The foxes must line up by the fence like teenage boys outside a convent.

[slacker]

A few other pearls in no particular order....

Ed said he had enough room to move the birds after 1 year within the same enclosure, then grow corn on the fertilised part. This helps prevent disease.

They like shoelaces.

And fancy their chances with a 6'3" alcoholic.

They say buuuuuuuuuuccckkkkk buk buk buk, much like the other hens I've met.

They make great Eggs Benedict. (Do say if you want repro action shots of this, and I will oblige, with muffins)

They don't smell like battery hens do.

They run away when you say 'mechanically recovered'.

The yolks are golden, and very, very rich. Double yolkers don't necessarily produce twice the yolk....more like 1 and a half times.

They die less than battery hens do.

Ummmm......

(Edited for spelling)

Edited March 17, 2005 by slacker (log)

[PoppySeedBagel]

We always get those eggs Fi - I'll think of your pictures when I open a box in future- thanks! Re double yolk eggs - our Waitrose also often stocks boxes specifically of double yolkers.

[Sackville]

Cool! I get those eggs!! Thank you so much for sharing

[magnolia]

Good to hear this Fi, as I've been having some Grave Doubts about Waitrose lately...

So, can we tell by looking at the stamps on the eggs, which ones are actually Home Farm?

[curlywurlyfi]

So, can we tell by looking at the stamps on the eggs, which ones are actually Home Farm?

I've asked Em for their producer number which is apparently stamped on every egg, so I promise to post it when I get it!

They should have some sort of strapline: Take A Little Bit Of Foutain Violet Home With You Today.

(actually that's rubbish, but it's Friday night and I need a drink)

[magnolia]

Maybe your friends could feed their hens blueberries so the eggs come out violet...as in 'Violet, you're turning violet!"

[

quote=curlywurlyfi,Mar 18 2005, 11:27 AM]

They should have some sort of strapline: Take A Little Bit Of Foutain Violet Home With You Today.

(actually that's rubbish, but it's Friday night and I need a drink)

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[curlywurlyfi]

this just in from Emma:

Well as it's that time of year we thought we'd send you on a very special egg hunt!  As you probably already know Fountain Violet are now suppliers of organic eggs though at the moment we're not sure where to find them!

Puzzled?......well that's where you can help us ....  our eggs are found in Waitrose (sold as organic Columbian Blacktail - top of the range don't you know!!) and we're keen to find out exactly where in the country they are.

So your challenge is to liven up your supermarket visit and let us know if and where you find our eggs.  The key is to look for our unique producer number which is printed on the eggs  - OUK17673 - and then let us know where and when you found them.

And just to entice you to take part i'm promising an easter egg to the first person to e-mail me the details of their Fountain Violet egg find!

Feel free to pass this on to your mates if they live in a different part of the country and

Happy hunting!!!

Love

Edward, Emma, Oscar and Honor

So, if you find a Fountain Violet egg in your Waitrose, PM me and I'll forward the news to Emma. She's not a member of eG (though Andy if you're listening GOD KNOWS I have tried!) so you can't PM her directly. To repeat, you're looking for an egg stamped with OUK17673.

And I had two today scrambled for lunch and they were lovely...

Fi

[slacker]

Um, yeah, I've found one in my Waitrose.

[slacker]

And the eggs make lovely lemon curd, which thinking about it, is hollandaise with too much lemons and not enough vinegar.