Celebrating Diversity (of eggs); one delicious breakfast at a time!

Diversity of egg colors and sizes

Walking down the egg isle in the grocery store would lead one to believe that there are four kinds of eggs in this world: large white, extra-large white, large brown, and extra large brown - when that is anything but the reality outside the grocery store and likely the city limits. 

My layer flock was expanded this last week with the addition of 2 bantum frizzle layer chickens and a whole bunch of quail. It appears they have finally settled in, as yesterday they laid their first eggs! 

Eggs are an important staple of my breakfast, providing me with a whole foods source of high quality protein and nutrient-rich fat. Now a beautiful color and size spectrum sits waiting on my egg trough by the stove, tempting my imaginative mind to dream up new recipes and plate presentations to showcase these delicious wonders. 

I am delighted by the diversity of nature. Growing and raising my own food is goal I will continue to nurture and pursue. I also enjoy my (at least) monthly trip to the Pearl Brewery Farmer's Market in downtown San Antonio where I am reminded that carrots come in many shapes and sizes and that there are more varieties of greens than just iceberg and romaine lettuce. 

Anything to keep me out of the depressing grocery isles of west San Antonio. Anything. 

Quail Egg

Bantum Egg

Regular Egg
Note the deep orange yolk, this
chicken has been free-range
for the last year.

A Taste for Fermentation

A friend from Bastry recently contacted me, "What would you think if I sent you some jars of kraut for a pair of earrings?? Deal??" Deal. 

Curry Kraut made
by Eliza Winne

The memories of Liza opening up her fermented vegetable mash in the halls of Bastyr make me smile, I remember down the end of the long hallway hearing folks sniff loudly and say, 'what IS that smell??' While the smell can pungent at times, the taste is always extremely satisfying. The taste is vibrant and humbling. 

The taste is alive. Literally.

So when I opened my package from Liza the other day, it was no surprise that the first jar lasted less than 24 hours. Greg was lucky to get a bite or two in before I was polishing off the last bite. The second jar I am savoring and take a few bites each day so that I can drag out the pleasure into several days. 

It has been a year since I have made a batch myself. In Seattle, it was a natural part of my cycle to have a batch or two of ferment going in my kitchen, but have had trouble fitting it into my San Antonio cycle. 

A year is much too long. So I busted out a glass bowl, my wooden muddler, my veggie knife, and some sea salt and got busy today. My fist batch will be purple cabbage, carrots, Brussels sprouts, and the few drops of fermentation liquid left at the bottom of Liza's kraut jar. 

My creation

The leftover liquid will be key, propagating the new batch with bacteria from the previous batch. It takes out a bit of the luck that is inherent to my batches of kraut, historically speaking. 

Now I wait. This time next month I hope to reap the reward of my patience . 

For further reading: 

Eliza Winne's blog dedicated to cultured foods: http://oldtrition.blogspot.com/

Sandor Katz's website, the fermentation guru: http://www.wildfermentation.com/

My previous blog posting on fermented citrus: http://annamacnak.blogspot.com/2010/04/preserving-with-salt-case-study.html