Pastured Eggs in Chicago

January 5, 2010 9:05 AM

Where can I find pastured eggs in Chicago?

I want to find local pastured eggs in Chicago. Both localharvest and eatwild don't work too well, as I'm not looking to join a CSA or anything. I just want to be able to buy a dozen pastured eggs every week or so.

Any suggestions?

posted by phrakture to Food & Drink (9 answers total)

Best answer: I've seen some of the farmers that come to the Green City Market sell pastured eggs. Might be worth a shot.
posted by Arbac at 9:16 AM on January 5, 2010

Response by poster: For the record, there is a CSA that drops off in Lincoln Square:
http://www.cedarvalleysustainable.com/index.html

They *do* offer pastured eggs, but it's a whole meat CSA. This is on my list if I can't find them more readily
posted by phrakture at 9:47 AM on January 5, 2010

Best answer: I'd try New Leaf in Edgewater or the new Dill Pickle Food Co-op in Logan Square.
posted by carrienation at 10:31 AM on January 5, 2010

Seconding Green City Market, but you'd have to get there early. Eggs always sell out quickly.
posted by veggieboy at 10:43 AM on January 5, 2010

Davidson's Pasturized Eggs has a store locator and there are tons of Illinois retailers.
posted by peep at 11:19 AM on January 5, 2010

Response by poster: Pastured not pasteurized. The first means "the chickens are sent out to pasture", the second means "the eggs are sanitized with a pasteurization process"
posted by phrakture at 12:40 PM on January 5, 2010

Sorry can't help specifically, just thought this topic was interesting because I'd never heard the term "pastured" before, and like peep assumed you meant Pasteurised.

In Australia we have "Free Range", "Barn Laid" and "Cage" eggs... free range meaning the chickens can go outside whenever, barn laid means the can roam around inside a barn, and cage means they are stuck in a cage. Unfortunately a lot of people save the 50c per half dozen and go for the cage eggs - I think though that free range now makes up 40% of sales.

Anyways maybe there are other terms for the eggs you are looking for - something like free range
posted by trialex at 1:52 PM on January 5, 2010

I do believe I saw "pastured" eggs at the Lincoln Park Whole Foods on Sunday for about $0.39/each.
posted by moitz at 2:00 PM on January 5, 2010

Response by poster: The difference is really the feed. I can easily find "Cage Free, Vegetarian Fed" eggs at the grocery store, but damnit, chickens are not vegetarians. They eat worms and grubs and bugs. If you let them out to pasture, they eat that crap in addition to seeds. "Cage Free" chickens are still generally fed corn (at least in the US).

And for the record, the US laws for "free range" and "cage free" are stupid. I think you can let chickens out of their barn for like 30 minutes a day and still be listed as "free range".
posted by phrakture at 8:50 AM on January 6, 2010