I'm sure you've seen them in the grocery store. Eggs labelled as "Omega-3" eggs. They're bursting with goodness and health and nutrition. They're easy to identify from the other eggs. They're the ones that look like Dr. Oz if you stare closely enough at them. Plus they cost about $1 more per carton. Plus they have "Omega-3" printed on the carton and sometimes even on the eggs.
Plus they taste like fish. Sometimes.
Have you ever noticed that? You eat an egg (either store bought or from your own chickens) and there's a lingering, subtle note of trout. This happened to me the other day. I cracked open an egg from one of my chickens and it tasted more like I cracked it out of the spleen of a salmon than an eggshell. It's happened to me before so I knew it wasn't my imagination. I couldn't talk myself out of the fish taste this time.
We're all pretty good at that by the way, talking ourselves into thinking bad food is actually good.
You buy chicken breasts for instance, open them up and there it is. The scent of impending food poisoning. But you just bought them so they must be fine. Plus they barely smell. Plus you could stand to lose a few pounds. Plus you're not even sure if they smell at all. Plus you just got back from being out all day running errands, and the grocery store seems so far away and you can't really be bothered to return them, plus you planned on eating chicken tonight and ... well ... maybe they didn't smell bad at all. Maybe they were fine. So you prep them, get them ready, prepare the rest of the dinner, then stand staring at the raw, stinky chicken that you know in your heart of hearts is dancing with barf bacteria.
You know if you cook them at this point you'll be so suspicious of whether they were good or not that you'll convince yourself they weren't and after the first bite you'll break out into a sweat, start feeling nauseous and just like that your mind has convinced your body you have food poisoning and you're in bed for the next day and a half.
So you throw the chicken breasts out and have carrots and anti-nauseants for dinner.
I almost did the same thing with my fish egg. I ate a bite, felt gaggy, then ended up feeding them to the chickens because I was convinced they were bad.
As it turns out, a fishy tasting egg isn't bad, it's actually very, very good.
It just tastes bad.
And it all revolves around Omega-3s. Omega-3 is a fat that's most often found in fish but it's also found in flaxseed and other things. And the interesting thing about Omega-3 fat is that it can have a fishy scent and taste no matter where it comes from. It's just a natural characteristic of Omega-3 fats. So the reason your fish tastes and smells like fish isn't because it's fish, it's because it's filled with Omega-3 fats.
Vegetables also have Omega-3 fats, just not as much as fish or flaxseeds. So if your chickens have been fed squash, lots of leafy greens or beans that could burst up their Omega-3 intake and make your eggs fishy the odd time.
There's also some research that says certain breeds of chickens, particularly brown layers, that have a gene that converts fatty acids in their diet to compounds that smell fishy. So you get a brown egg laying chicken, throw in some flax seed, greens and a few beans and you end up with more than a farty chicken. You have something fishy going on.
Which brings me to my Black and Blue Copper Marans eggs that I was mentioning last week.
People ask if they taste any different. And they do. They're the only eggs of all the chickens I've had that have ever had that weird/gross/alarming/ fishy taste. They don't have it very often, but when they have it there's no getting it past my gullet. Which is a shame of course because the fishier the taste, the higher the Omega-3s, the better the egg is for you.
Which means eggs that smell gross are good for you, chicken parts that smell gross are bad for you and if either one of them smells like Dr. Oz, you're in trouble.
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Elise
Wow... I've been a long time follower and stumbled across this again since this morning I had an egg almost ruin my day, so to google I went and found this post. It was awful (the egg, not your post). Glad to know it's just my crazy brain making me continue to be nauseous throughout and not the actual egg. That being said, while reading this, I lost my place three different times due to an ad or something I imagine? And then a full page pop-up ad asking for my email (which you've had for years). Is there a way to "sign-in" per se, so that people who already follow you don't have to bother with the ads? Ugh, and as I paused my typing, it did it again. =( And again. This isn't going to keep me from catching up on your posts, but holy (again) moly. It takes me to the top of the page and then I have to scroll back down (again). (again as I try to fill out my info)
Karen
Hi Elise! What's probably happening is there's a bad ad that's making the page load slowly. So you think you're at a certain place in the post, then the ad finally loads and pushes the page down. If you can take a screen shot of the ad I can send it to my ad provider and say it's slowing my site down. I'm afraid I can't get rid of the ads entirely because they're my sole source of income and the only way I can keep this blog going. :) The pop up should only show to people who are NOT subscribed to my site though so I'll look into that and see what's going on there. Thanks for the info! ~ karen
yumyumfishmeal
Your layers pellets probably contain fish meal as a protein source
fish meal is dry crushed fish
LEnny
You feed your chickens the eggs? Their own kind...eggs?!
Karen
Yep, lol. It's not a big deal. Of course, I also ate my brother 3 years ago. ;) ~ karen!
Rebecca
Glad I didn't just food poison myself. My farmers market eggs smelled and tasted fishy this morning. I couldn't make myself eat it. :(. Hope the rest are not smelly. Funny I love fish but not other stuff that tastes like fish.
Terri Illingworth
Thanks so much for this info. Both my soft boiled eggs tasted fishy (first bite only on each egg) and I thought I was losing my mind! Good to know that if I am, it's not in this area.
Colleen R
We had fried eggs yesterday and one was fine and the other tasted like fish! I thought I was going nutty!
Veronica
"Farty chicken" cracked me right up. LOL
Thanks for the information. I just finished my first fishy egg and had to find out the reason for such an odd taste. :)
Karen
Aren't they horrible, lol? At least you know it isn't bad now just gross. ~ karen!
Anthony Jordan
I came here today looking for an explanation about the slight fishy taste and smell , chickens eggs I threw away last night. So now I know that other people have experienced the same thing. I guess im back on organic only now
youraway
I buy organic and they taste like fish.
Nancy Blue Moon
I've never eaten a fishy egg..but I have eaten fish eggs AKA caviar..
Jan in Waterdown
Imho, eggs must be cooked in bacon fat, not butter. But, as we all know, there ain't nothin' in bacon that's good for us. My husband says it's a condiment. So I buy the bag o' cooked bacon bits from Costco and when I need a hit for my scrambled eggs, I fry up some bits in the pan (because they aren't cooked crispy enough for me) and it renders just enough yummy yummy fat to cook the eggs. The bag lasts forever in the fridge and I'm not throwing out old bacon strips that are waaay past their prime. Not unlike myself.
Leslie
I have a theory that pumpkin seeds make the eggs taste super yummy. When I switched my laying flock over to a custom feed with pumpkin seeds in it I immediately noticed the eggs smell and taste yummier ... buttery and delicious ... even though the feed also has fish meal protein (which can give the eggs an off flavor). I've read that pumpkin seeds also boost the Omega 3s and help make gorgeous yellow yolks. Pumpkin seeds also have a good amount of protein compared to some other types of scratch grain treats. So hull-less pumpkin seeds might help take the fishy taste out of your pretty new Marans eggs. It's worth a try, anyway!
Dana
Thank you for this post! The husband and I both thought I was crazy for smelling fish! Glad to know I am not crazy. Well for this anyhow.
Anthony Jordan
I thought I was mad, when I was eating eggs, but smelling and tasting fish. It was horrible. I had to throw it way ...
Kari
LOL That happened to me! It freaked me out and I gave up eating eggs for a while lol. We're very off and on, me and eggs. I overcooked scrambled eggs and they smell EXACTLY like wet dog?? But I always come back for the toasted egg sandwich. It's just too good.
Eileen
I avoid buying any eggs from the grocery store. I'm fortunate enough to buy from a friend, an organic farmer. The eggs taste fabulous and the yolks are so deep yellow/orange, it's like eating gold!! I'm trying to stay away from chemically induced food, regardless of what's being touted in the marketplace.
Andrea Claire
I often wondered if omega-3 eggs would taste like fish, so I always avoided them. I'm a Pisces so we don't eat our kind. ( actually I hate fish)
We have so many kinds of eggs here in Singapore. Cornfed, omega 3... There's more. Gonna send you snaps of the various kinds for your enjoyment.
x
AC
Lis
Karen, I think you just want an excuse to show off that last photo - of maran egg gorgeousness!
Hayley
Oh god. Don't ever buy omega 3 milk. It doesn't come from a cow. They milk a bunch of trouts and put it in a container with a picture of a cow on it BUT DON'T LET THEM FOOL YOU!!! I bought some from Safeway thinking I'd be all healthy-like. The good news is they have me my money back when I pointed out the wrong animal was used in the making of the product.
BethH
I haven't had the fishy egg experience, but I have had the exact same chicken breast experience, word for word. Twice. The second time I actually stood at the stove and wept as I cooked them, because I knew I was going to die later that night. And then I threw them out and had carrots and anti-nauseants for dinner after I stopped crying.
Ev Wilcox
I buy boring eggs from a store. Never noticed a fish smell. If I ever do, at least I'll know why! Your photo of the deep brown eggs is beautiful!
Jan in Waterdown
Sometime last year, I watched a show on the CBC (Marketplace?) where they tested the Omega 3 enhanced eggs from the grocery stores and concluded that the eggs were definitely not worth the additional cost due to the miniscule amounts added to our diets. The implication was that the public is being duped into buying them. I wonder if that is actually true? I try not to believe everything I see on TV . . . hah!
Leslie
So true. Lots of the stuff you read on an egg carton is meaningless marketing. We are so gullible.