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Post by whollygoats on Mar 8, 2013 1:23:07 GMT
It's been said that 'Americans', which I call USers, and Brits, are separated by a common language. It is so true. Today, being a chicken tender myself, I have other chicken tenders forward me chicken information. Today, I received this: www.forbes.com/sites/nadiaarumugam/2012/10/25/why-american-eggs-would-be-illegal-in-a-british-supermarket-and-vice-versa/3/It's basically a Forbes article on the difference in how eggs are marketed in the two countries. Here, we refrigerate eggs and sell them that way. This is because they have been cleaned and the 'cuticle' or 'bloom' has been washed off. This is a property of chicken eggs to which I had been unaware until I started tending hens. I do not refrigerate the eggs my girls produce. I keep them in a bowl, on the kitchen counter, at room temperature. Yeah, some of them have chicken scratches on them, usually dirt, from the chickens themselves. They all still have the 'bloom' which protects them from contamination...which is applied by the hen as the last step in the egg laying process. I did not realize that taking advantage of this, rather than requiring pre-sale washing of the eggs, was how it was done in the UK. Does that prevail on the continent, as well? I remember being intrigued by seeing milk marketed in an unrefrigerated system; just packaged for the store shelves, like packaged soup, or crisps. We still don't have that...all milk, cream, cheese and butter is refrigerated. In the market and at home (I've been known to not bother with refrigerating butter, though).
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Post by tangent on Mar 8, 2013 11:51:32 GMT
I did not realize that taking advantage of this, rather than requiring pre-sale washing of the eggs, was how it was done in the UK. Does that prevail on the continent, as well? The eggs we buy from the supermarket have all been washed.
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Post by whollygoats on Mar 8, 2013 14:19:37 GMT
I did not realize that taking advantage of this, rather than requiring pre-sale washing of the eggs, was how it was done in the UK. Does that prevail on the continent, as well? The eggs we buy from the supermarket have all been washed. And thus are sold from a refrigerated case?
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Post by tangent on Mar 8, 2013 14:32:40 GMT
No, from a stand at normal temperature.
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Post by Kye on Mar 8, 2013 14:37:07 GMT
When I was in France I was shocked to see eggs being sold from an unrefrigerated counter. I didn't look closely at the eggs to see if they were washed or not. I didn't think it was safe to buy them.
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Post by Moose on Mar 8, 2013 19:13:46 GMT
We don't refrigerate eggs here Someone told me it was bad for them. My niece's dad keeps chickens and often brings us egg straight from the hen. They do have dirt on them but hey, you don't eat the shells
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Post by Mari on Mar 8, 2013 19:14:56 GMT
I've never heard of washing eggs. We get them off the shelves and keep them in a cupboard rather than in a fridge. We have two kinds of milk here: milk you have to keep in the fridge because it's 'fresh' and the other can be on the shelf because it's pasteurised.
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Post by Moose on Mar 8, 2013 19:15:52 GMT
UHT But UHT milk needs to be refrigerated as soon as it's open
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Post by Mari on Mar 8, 2013 19:20:38 GMT
True, but until then you can keep it in your cupboard.
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Post by Moose on Mar 8, 2013 19:21:15 GMT
not as nice as fresh milk tho
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Post by Kye on Mar 8, 2013 19:23:09 GMT
I haven't drunk milk by itself for years. I only put a little in my tea from time to time. I don't even keep it in the house.
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Post by Moose on Mar 8, 2013 19:23:58 GMT
I don't tend to but I do like it
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Post by Kye on Mar 8, 2013 19:26:15 GMT
My ex-boyfriend loved drinking milk. But then, he was something of a weirdo all round.
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Post by Mari on Mar 8, 2013 19:28:10 GMT
I love drinking milk too. I sometimes have to stop myself from drinking too much milk a day.
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Post by Kye on Mar 8, 2013 19:28:49 GMT
Weirdo...
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Post by Mari on Mar 8, 2013 19:30:31 GMT
I love you too
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Post by Kye on Mar 8, 2013 19:33:03 GMT
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Post by tangent on Mar 8, 2013 19:37:25 GMT
Once we get them home, we put our eggs in the fridge.
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Post by Moose on Mar 8, 2013 19:39:03 GMT
milk is perfectly healthy if not full fat
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Post by Mari on Mar 8, 2013 19:41:40 GMT
Yes, it's healthy, but drinking too much calcium is bad for you. You are not supposed to drink more than 2 cups of milk a day.
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Post by Moose on Mar 8, 2013 19:44:08 GMT
really? I did not know that why not?
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Post by Mari on Mar 8, 2013 19:46:53 GMT
Because the calcium builds up in your bones making them brittle. Too much of a good thing, etc.
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Post by juju on Mar 8, 2013 19:55:53 GMT
I don't keep my eggs in the fridge, they go in a basket in my kitchen. (Sadly I still don't have my chickens back so I'm having to buy free range from the shops). As Tangent said, shops here don't keep eggs in refrigerators. I guess they must be washed to get the dirt off, but I don't think they are washed enough to get the 'bloom' off.
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Post by tangent on Mar 8, 2013 20:22:31 GMT
I didn't know they had any bloom so I wouldn't know if it is washed off.
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Post by Alvamiga on Mar 8, 2013 20:51:23 GMT
I keep my eggs in the fridge and go through about 6-7 pints of milk a week.
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Post by Moose on Mar 12, 2013 17:43:48 GMT
Are these two things related? I have free range eggs at the moment courtesy of my ex brother in law
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Post by Miisa on Mar 12, 2013 17:52:14 GMT
Where the eggs are sold depends on the shop, but I suspect they are all unwashed. I always keep them in the fridge, as I eat eggs so sporadically, I fear they would otherwise go bad.
I have recently been buying some of that milk that can be kept at room temperature, I use it mostly from small containers or my tea at work. But it has been treated differently and thus tastes different, not a fan of drinking it as is.
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Post by Moose on Mar 12, 2013 17:57:11 GMT
I watched an episode of countryfile at my parents the other day. It focused on a project in inner London teaching young teens to raise chickens and grow veg etc. A fifteen or so year old boy - suitably deprieved looking - was shown lifting two eggs from under a chicken. Unfortunately, you could clearly see the lion mark on one of them.
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Post by Alvamiga on Mar 12, 2013 20:32:16 GMT
As long as they don't try to breed the veg and plant chickens...
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Post by Alvamiga on Mar 12, 2013 20:37:28 GMT
Are these two things related? I was purely commenting on two things from above. I stopped paying much attention to people's advice about storing things in or out of the fridge, as all the stuff I keep in there keeps longer. Someone once claimed that bread kept in the fridge would go bad more quickly, so I put some in the fridge and some out as a control test. The stuff in the fridge took about 2-3 times longer to go mouldy, so it shows what he knows!
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