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SOLERA DIAMOND VALLEY | MAY 2023 15 By Clare Mendez, Resident Did you know there are more hens than people in Iowa? Or that the average American eats about 279 eggs per year? When it comes to buying eggs, choosing between brown and white or large and jumbo is just the beginning. There are some things you may care about and look for on your carton. While most eggs are either white or brown, you can find blue or even green eggs. There is no nutritional or flavor difference between them, so pick what suits your fancy. Grade AA us the highest-quality egg you can get, but since it takes time to get eggs from farm to store, you'll find mostly Grade A on grocery shelves. Farm fresh eggs are not regulated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Cage-Free doesn't necessarily mean that the hens are roaming across the grass (or in our case, the dirt) and picking at bugs and flowers. "Cage-Free" means they're probably in an aviary type system where they're inside a large building but they don't go outside. When it comes to "Free- Range," the USDA stipulates that they must have continuous access to the outdoors during their production cycle. "Unspecified," well, those hens are most likely from an industrial egg farm. What a hen eats can have a colorful impact on the color of the yolk. There are nearly white yolks, which can be a result of an all-white cornmeal diet, whereas a rich-orange yolk could be from a diet of marigolds, dehydrated alfalfa, kitchen scraps or good old-fashioned foraging. Although an orange yolk might look like the better choice, it's nutritionally the same as a paler one. All eggs, regardless of how they are farmed contain the highest biological value for protein. One egg has only 75 calories but seven grams of protein, five grams of fat, and 1.6 grams of saturated fat along with iron, vitamins, minerals and carotenoids. The confusion over eggs stems from their cholesterol content. One large egg contains 213 mg of cholesterol, accounting for two-thirds of the daily recommended limit, but in 2000, the American Heart Association revised its dietary guidelines and gave healthy adults the green light to enjoy eggs. Ask your doctor about any restrictions he or she feels you should have regarding eggs. Do you need to refrigerate eggs? It all depends on if the eggs were washed. Standard supermarket eggs must be refrigerated because they are washed to clean off the dirt and debris, a process that strips them of their protective cuticle and leaves them more vulnerable to bacteria. Home-raised eggs, if they haven't been washed, still have this protective cuticle and don't need to be refrigerated. However, if the eggs are home-raised it is advised to wash the shells before cracking the egg open. Eggs will keep for about four weeks. It is not advised to eat any cracked eggs as that's an opening for any bacteria to get in there. If you aren't sure if your eggs are fresh, just place a few in a bowl of water. If they sink to the bottom, they are fresh. If they stand on their heads they are not as fresh but still have not gone bad. You'll know when an egg has gone bad by taking a whiff when you crack it open. You're a Good Egg By eresa Rossetti, Resident Sometimes things just don't work out. How do we decide when it's time to give up? Sounds like a serious subject, but sometimes it's pretty simple. I was brought up in a "You'll eat what's on the table," "Clean your plate, there are starving children in China" family. I'm pretty sure my dad's China reference was because he was stationed there during WWII. I read recipes all the time, even though I don't particularly like to cook. Recently I decided to attempt Spaghetti with Anchovy Sauce - a recipe gleaned from a reputable Cooking Italian website. It was terrible – tasteless and dry. But I'm no quitter. Finding a piece of previously cooked salmon in the fridge, the next day I put some olive oil in a pan, added some garlic cloves, a bit of white wine and chicken broth, and tossed in the leftover spaghetti. Definitely an improvement, not a real winner. Giving up was not an option, after all I still had leftovers in the fridge. The next night I defrosted some shrimp, sautéed it up in a bit more olive oil, added some lemon juice, more wine and broth, salt, pepper, and red chili flakes. The result was delicious. I call this a win-win situation! There are two morals to this story: Remember the advice of your parents, and don't waste your food! Never Surrender?!