Pullet Eggs...

A couple of weeks ago I managed to catch an episode of 'Friday Night Feast' presented by Jamie Oliver and Jimmy Doherty. They did a feature on Pullet eggs, which are the first few eggs that a hen lays when starting her egg cycle; resulting in a slightly smaller than average egg. The programme visited a free range egg farm in Sussex which like other farmers has to either throw away or sell the "mini eggs" for a very small amount. Jimmy Doherty stated that: "every day in the UK more than 1.5 million small eggs are thrown on the scrapheap or sold for peanuts to be turned into liquid egg,” I (naively) had no idea that this was happening in the UK and also I suppose the whole world. With so much food poverty in our country and more food banks than ever being used, it is as Jimmy states 'unthinkable'. Although in a society that throws away more than 'fifteen million tonnes' each year, maybe this is not much a surprise? Anyway fast forward to the next morning where I woke up and fancied an egg for breakfast (laid by our lovely young ladies who have just started laying this week, pause for a celebratory clap!). I realised when taking an egg out of the box that these fine eggs where 'pullet eggs', which if we were commercially producing, would be thrown away. But instead I poached my pullet egg, and it was DELICIOUS! A Pullet egg has a firmer white and yolk so should be considered as a "premium" product. As you can see in my picture of the poached egg, there is no excuse for these to be chucked away.

Thanks to influential individuals such as Jaime Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, we are able to highlight wastage like this, and prevent it from happening.

Morning Pullet Omelet