Perky-as-heck eggs from Hauser Hill Farms. Get ’em Sunday or pine all winter. (Photo by Jim Willis. Click to enlarge)
By JIM WILLIS
One of PieHole‘s favorites at the Red Bank Farmers Market this season was a late discovery: the eggs from Hauser Hill Farms.
These eggs have some of the brightest yolks we’ve seen, a good indication that the chickens are eating good stuff. Crack two into your frying pan for a pair of sunny-side ups, and the yolks tower over the whites with the perkiness of a cheerleader on game day.
PieHole spoke to farmer John Hauser to make sure he’d have plenty at his table this weekend, and to get some details on his hens.
“They’re a free-range chicken fed on corn that we grow here at the farm” in Old Bridge, he says. “During the summer and fall, we take any leftover fruit and vegetables from the markets that we can’t sell and feed that to them as well. Apples, sweet corn, melon – you can imagine that a lot of times they get to enjoy a real feast.”
The eggs go for a bargain $3.50 a dozen, and Hauser takes 50 cents off if you bring a carton – and it doesn’t need to be one of his.
“It really brings the price down and encourages recycling,” says Hauser. A great price indeed, considering you can drive north to a grocery store on Route 35 and pay upwards of $5.50 a dozen for similar eggs.
Hauser also has duck and turkey eggs available at $4.50 a dozen. Get ’em Sunday if you can. It’s the last day of the Red Bank Farmers’ Market for the season until next Mother’s Day.
For the inside scoop on good food and drinks around Red Bank (and where to find great deals on local ingredients like the eggs from Farmer John Hauser’s chickens), be sure to follow PieHole on Twitter and Facebook.