Above is a photo of real, unfossilized, non-dinosaur eggs in 2009 (yeah, I didn't get around to posting until the next round of eggs came in this year). They come from the emu, a huge, flightless bird native to Australia. But these eggs came from a Boody Emu Ranch in Sewell, NJ – about 30 minutes south of Philly. The eggs can be found at Fair Food Farmstand in Reading Terminal Market. Now, in that photo, there's no true sense of scale to the photo. Sure there's the words 'eat me' inscribed on the shell of the particularly chalkboard-green one like it's some kind of Easter time Valentine heart or something, but there's no 3" piece of yellow chalk next to it. Well, they're about 9" from tip to tip, a foot in circumference and they're heavier than they look roughly 1lbs – 1.6lbs apiece.
Here's a shot of me from last year taken by my friend Thad. You can get a sense of scale from this shot. From a distance, and close up, they look like giant avocados. The color will range from a lighter chalkboard-green to an almost black green. The texture will vary from smooth to deeply pebbled. Apparently, each emu lays a particular looking egg so the farmers can identify which eggs were laid by which bird, pretty cool! These emu eggs are roughly equivalent to 8 – 10 regular chicken eggs, so, you're looking at brunch for 4 with one egg.
But this egg will taste a little different than your average farm fresh egg with their bright orange yolks. Emus have a different diet so they're going to have a different taste and look. The emu egg isn't as rich as the other eggs at the Farmstand from Meadow Run, Natural Meadows (my favorite are the rainbow dozens), Lancaster Farm Fresh… The yolk to white ratio is crazy – the yolks are HUGE! The ratio is closer to 50-50 instead of roughly 1/4 – 1/3 yolk to 3/4 – 2/3 white. The whites of the emu eggs are thicker as they have less water content – this will make for fluffier eggs.
And there you go, an emu egg cracked into one of those large soup mugs with my hand and a quarter for scale. That sucker is GIGANTIC. The yolk is roughly the size of a donut. What in the world does one do with such a large egg? You can make a serious frittata or omelets. Make a custard or some quiche. Bake a cake. Messy is terrified of the gigantic eggs and refuses to go near them.
A closeup shot so you can see the texture of the eggs.
A gigantic emu egg can be yours for $10 at Fair Food Farmstand in Reading Terminal Market. They're going for $30 at Whole Foods in NYC according to Serious Eats NY. Get them before spring settles in (can you remember ground without snow on it?!) as they'll stop laying and that'll be it for emu eggs until next March. If you want one for Easter, don't worry, grab one now. The shells are so thick that they'll last for months on your counter unrefrigerated and a good 6 months in your fridge. What makes eggs go rotten are actually hairline cracks in the shells. Thicker shells mean hairline cracks don't let air into the inside of the egg so no rotting! And if you're feeling especially adventurous, you can blow out the inside of the egg and save the egg for art like these people.
. The one pictured at top was squishy, but not about-to-burst ready.
For those who have never seen or had a fresh, ripe fig before, this is as good as it gets. Giovanni has a gorgeous 30 year old Paradiso fig tree in his South Philly backyard (I just took a trip down to see the tree and talk to Giovanni, but that's for another post) full of ripe and ripening green figs.
Giovanni delivers his figs about twice a week – approximately 20 dozen figs with each delivery – through October. The figs are sold for $4 a half dozen. Yes, they're expensive, but they're better than any California fig you'll ever have here on the east coast.
What makes these figs different from those red/brown/maroon figs you see elsewhere? Well, these have a much denser taste to them. Almost a thick syrupy flavor instead of the sweeter taste of others.
