Eat Local Spotlight: Eggs

There’s nothing quite like a really fresh egg!   In fact, if you compare mainland and local eggs side by side, you’ll find that local eggs have better taste and texture – not to mention that they make the perfect Loco Moco!

But success hasn’t come easy to local egg farms.  Minda Takaki, farm manager of Maili Moa Farms that produces Shaka Moa eggs explains that  business was initially tough for the local, family-owned company run by her husband Mark because mainland eggs were so much cheaper.  But thanks to local customers who support local farmers, Shaka Moa is now going strong with more than 12,000 chickens producing well over one million eggs a year at their cage-free farm.

You may be amazed to learn that Shaka Moa eggs are on Foodland’s shelves fewer than seven days after they’ve been collected and sorted at the Waianae farm.  Try them and you’ll notice a big difference!

Here are a few more interesting tidbits about these great local eggs:

• No cracks in the armor! After going through a machine-wash and sorting process, all Shaka Moa eggs are carefully inspected by one of the company’s nine employees. The team’s goal is to ensure that customers never have to swap cracked eggs out of their cartons.

• Happy chickens, tasty eggs! Shaka Moa eggs come from cage-free chickens. They have their own roosting boxes, a large communal outdoor area and natural light —  even when they are indoors. Having the freedom to roam around enables the chickens to build stronger muscles which results in better eggs.

• Brown or White? Brown eggs come from brown chickens, and white eggs come from white chickens. Nutritionally, there’s no difference, but brown eggs are often a little bigger, have a richer taste and darker colored yolk. That may be because brown chickens are larger than white ones and eat more food. If it seems like brown eggshells are harder to crack, it’s probably because they come from younger chickens.

• Give ‘em a Break:  Shaka Moa’s brown hens are retired after about two years of egg-laying. As they get older, they lay less frequently and their eggs are more fragile.

• Golden Egg:  While there are many ways to crack – and eat – a Shaka Moa egg, Minda says her favorite is “fried, a little runny, in a SPAM® and egg sandwich, with ketchup and Tabasco!