Farmers' Call

First Sunday of the month and it’s Farmers’ Market again. That is a regular date for me for the principal reason that I can be sure of getting fresh free range eggs.

So what’s the difference from supermarket eggs, you may well ask. I would counter that it is the next best thing to keeping your own chicken and expecting a regular supply of newly laid eggs every day.

It is all summed up in one word — taste. Or flavour.

At the Farmers’ Market I am provided with a choice from where I buy my eggs, although I invariably favour the same farm stall and have been buying eggs here for well over a year.

I used to make a regular 20-mile round trip to a Farm Shop to buy eggs, but then that egg farm decided to give up selling directly to the public. Before that I would drive once every two weeks to another part of Hampshire for my eggs — and then the same thing happened.

This time, the farm stall at the Farmers’ Market assures me the eggs were laid the previous day, and therefore are as fresh as they can be. So I make a point of keeping the first Sunday of the month free for a visit.

Not that I expect the eggs to last me a complete month. Free range they might be, but they could hardly be called fresh a week hence.

OK, we probably use a lot of eggs — in cooking, making ice cream, and of course as an ingredient for salads, not to mention the occasional traditional English breakfast.

And then there is my favourite . . . and it seems the rest of the family as well whenever they visit — scrambled egg and smoked salmon. A MUST on Christmas Day, but in our house it’s not just for Christmas!