From: BenP (bpitt@n2.com)
Date: Thu Oct 14 1999 - 07:54:57 PDT
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 1999 07:54:57 -0700 From: "BenP" <bpitt@n2.com> Message-ID: <EEPCECOMAFIBAAAA@shared1-mail.whowhere.com> Subject: Eggshells and Observations
In years gone by we did try the egg-crush thing. It was really quite amazing, the structural integrity of the egg shape. The exercise works. (We held the egg with one end in the center of each palm, and pushed.) I wish I could say the same today. I wouldn't try the exercise with most eggs in the markets now. If I were to try it, I'd use eggs from sources where the chickens are free-range and naturally-fed. Or let your students compare some eggs! Maybe this will provide some inspiration:
Perhaps some others of you have noticed the marked decrease in the quality of the shells of most commercial eggs. The mass factory-produced eggs seem to have relatively thin and flawed shells. I noticed this especially this last year when my eighth graders did the egg-drop exercise. In each flat of eggs most had flaws and thin lines, like seams, in them. I did not feel that it was a true test of the students' projects because the eggs were so lousy. In contrast, I have found that the shells from free-range and naturally fed chickens still have relative integrity. (Also, the shells of the four chickens we have out back of our house seem much stronger than the mass-produced ones. And when I traveled in South America eggs were marketed by the kilo and sold in plastic bags! Try that with these things they call eggs around here these days!)
I haven't seen a study, but it seems to me that thin, poor shells might also provide a lower degree of protection from contamination.
To those of you who feel your hackles rising in defense of the factory egg farms and related technologies, so be it. These are just my observations of phenomena in our real world.
Good eating to you.
Ben Pittenger
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