not so long after bumbling down through this thread,,,, DD#1 came for a visit and convinced DW aka #1Mom - that Egglands were better because . . . . well because whatever.
now being three dozen Egglands into the experiment, here's my take / experience:
taste difference: no body can tell.
I pulled a dirty, rotten, low down, a-ethical trick and well,,, it proved the point - only the "touted" egg tastes better.
in fact they all picked the non-Eggland stuff as "better tasting" - but the cook knew which egg was what and they all picked the store brand as better tasting. yup, I deceived them and the taste difference was so unmarked that not one out of six flagged the Eggland brand as better tasting.
color: got pix, can't find any differences
freshness: MaJoR big time differences.
this takes a bit of explaining.....
if labeled as USDA Grade AA or Grade A, you'll see a date on the carton. the maximum date is set by USDA but _note_ it is max 45 days from _packing_ - NOT "days from the chicken"
so in my quest for egg truth, I was careful to buy a dozen eggs from Eggland and "store brand" with a pack expiration date within as one week time frame.
Eggland product had more thinned out whites, less perky yolks - across the board.
crack one of each into a bowl, the difference was clear to the naked eye.
now that little tidbit has some major implications - since the "use by" date is essentially the same, that means the eggs were packed as essentially the same time -
>>actually, not - it is possible that Eggland "short dates" - i.e. their date is not as long as the USDA specified maximum - but that sorta' doesn't work - as the Eggland would have been packed even later than the store brand . . . <<
which raises the issue how long / how well stored handled is the Eggland product prior to being "packed"
here's a pix - took a little diddling to get the right natural light so the "white pool" is visible.
see the yolk color.
the photo is direct as taken, no photoshopping / etc - I reduced it for size using Irfanview.
opinions as to which is fresher?