White eggs

[Likethebattle]

What used to happen to white and bluish hens eggs? They are now putting them in boxes as their is an increased demand but what did they used to do with them when you only got brown ones?

My mum once told me brown eggs were considered better and healthier so people preferred them. She’s actually sure that at one time the site shelled eggs were dyed? There is no difference and it seems a waste if they were just chucked or were they maybe used in production of other foods?

They used to go for production of other foods as far as I'm aware. There was certainly a perception in the 70s that brown eggs were healthier. A bit daft when you look back, really!

There was a recent thread about this. Hopefully someone will find it and link.

My mum used to say brow. Eggs were healthier when I saw an America tv show with different egg colours and asked why we don’t have white eggs in the uk. I like getting all the colours now.

They slap a Tesco finest label on them and sell them at a premium price

Different colour eggs come from different breeds of hen. No more, no less. None are more or less healthy.

@thehighestsardine I know that but as we’ve only ever had brown ones in boxes I wondered what the did with all the other colours that were produced. My mum was convinces they dyed them all brown.

@avroroad I can believe that as the white ones I got recently were from waitrose,

Waitrose essential eggs are labelled as white eggs

Different coloured eggs from.different types of chickens. Some breeds probably weren't bred as much, if there wasn't a market for their eggs. Or the eggs might have gone to commercial bakers or something, if it was less easy to sell them at a's high a price as brown eggs. I have no idea which colour eggs were used in Scotch eggs or cakes or anything bought off the shelf like that.

I used to have some blueish and white shelled eggs a few years ago.I lived near a couple. who had some type of hens that laid these, but forgotten the breed of hens now. The eggs were quite small, but fine to eat anyway.

Years ago, when first married to my now late Husband, we lived in a village, quite close to a farm. I used to get my eggs from there.His chickens were free roaming etc. All the eggs were very large, and brown, and in any dozen eggs that I bought from him. there would always be about ten with double yolks, and tasted fantastic.

Ah, sorry - I'm typing under a bit of a heavy cold, misunderstood! The industry sort of rallied around brown after some advertising campaign in the 70s touted them as better (doubtless because that's what they had to sell!). So brown eggs sold more, so farmers got more brown egg producing chickens... Only takes a year or two to swap out the whole laying chicken population, and it sort of stuck.

Nowadays it's trendy to have fancier eggs - our little co-op has two or three white varieties and also blue (!) - but supermarkets are generally pretty conservative and get mostly brown eggs in still.

They used to market brown eggs here in Massachusetts with the slogan "Brown eggs are local eggs and local eggs are fresh!". I haven't seen that for a while.

They slap a Tesco finest label on them and sell them at a premium price

In Waitrose, it's the cheapest own brand eggs that are the white ones.

Nutritionally, the eggs are the same but I think they come from a different breed of hens. Pre lockdown, they were probably sold to the restaurant industry or maybe places like Greggs or Pret, but are now in the supermarket due to the switch in demand.

I love white eggs - I haven't seen them since I was a girl in the 70s. This thread has made me realise I'm so bored of brown eggs.

I think chicken feed can have additives to enhance the colour of both the shell and the yolk. I remember getting some white eggs when we were on holiday in a less developed country and as well as the shells being white, the yolks were barely darker than cream-coloured.

It's down to the breed type. Brown eggs are from prolific layers called 'Warrens'.

I don't think there is any difference in health benefits with shell colour but everyone should be eating free range eggs/chickens regardless.
Clarence Court has been selling various egg colours for years (Burford Browns etc). Waitrose has had white eggs in their essential range for a couple of years too.
Eggs is good!

www.clarencecourt.co.uk/our-eggs/egg-range/