Gangdong egg shop, NON-GMO-fed eggs and yolk needle test: Fresh Farmer

Lately there's so much talk in the news and on social media about the numbers stamped on eggshells, isn't there? I eat eggs every day, so I got curious, started digging around, and found a really proper egg specialty shop, so I went to see it.

It's Fresh Farmer Olympic Park Foreon Direct Store (프레시파머 올림픽파크 포레온 직영점), right near Dunchondong Station.

What can you taste at the Fresh Farmer Foreon tasting table?

In front of Fresh Farmer Olympic Park Foreon Direct Store there's a boiled egg tasting table, and they also crack a raw egg on the spot to show its freshness. The tasting table was the first thing that caught my eye when I arrived. True to an egg specialty shop, they crack raw eggs to show you the freshness with your own eyes, and there were piping hot boiled eggs fresh out of the steamer for sampling.

The boiled eggs were neatly sliced and served in paper cups, and even without dipping them in any salt, there was no fishy taste at all! The yolk wasn't dry or crumbly but rich, nutty and moist, and the second I ate it I thought, wow, the eggs here really are different, haha.

This is a store run directly by the headquarters that produces and sells top-tier organic, free-range, animal-welfare fertilized eggs, and it was full of freshness and stories on a different level from supermarket eggs. I'll cover it all in one go: what I learned from the owner, the freshness checks I did at home, and how the cooking turned out!

Is shell number 1 all you need? The owner's standards for choosing eggs

According to the owner of the Fresh Farmer direct store, you should look not only at the shell number but also at the feed and animal welfare certification. Until now I vaguely assumed, "Shell number 1 is surely the best, right?" But maybe because it's the headquarters' direct store, the owner explained eggs in a really professional and friendly way. Thanks to that, my standards for choosing eggs became much broader and more varied.

Quality starts with the feed

They say the quality of the eggs we eat is ultimately decided by what the hens were fed. Fresh Farmer reportedly insists on expensive NON-GMO feed made only from pure grains that haven't been genetically modified. Reading the notice in the store, I liked its philosophy: cut down worries like residual pesticides, and raise your standards the more often you eat something.

Don't be fooled by clever tricks!

You've seen phrases like "Grade 1 fresh eggs" and "antibiotic-free Grade 1" at the supermarket, right? Apparently many of those eggs are shell number 4, caged eggs. Real animal welfare certification is an official proof that only comes with enough space for hens to stretch their wings comfortably, take dust baths and perch on roosts, plus verified stress management.

When can you buy same-day eggs?

The owner said that if you visit Fresh Farmer Olympic Park Foreon Direct Store after 6 PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays, you can buy eggs laid that very morning at the farm. While I was browsing the neatly arranged premium fertilized eggs in the store fridge, the owner quietly passed along this huge tip. And I happened to visit on a Thursday, lucky me >,<

On the owner's recommendation, I picked out two of the most prized No. 1 free-range fertilized eggs: the No. 1 free-range fertilized eggs and the No. 1 Albon free-range fertilized eggs.

When I got home I checked the laying date stamped on the eggs, and the date of the day I bought them was printed there, nice and clear.

Holding that day's freshness in my hands the same day, with no middle distribution at all. The class of a headquarters direct store really is different.

Won't same-day fertilized eggs taste fishy raw?

My husband tried the same-day fertilized eggs from Fresh Farmer raw, and his reaction was that there was no fishy taste. When eggs lose freshness, that typical fishy smell makes them hard to eat raw, right? I showed him the egg and said, "These were laid today," and he cracked the shell right there and slurped down the raw egg just like that.

Wow, there's no fishy taste at all, it's seriously so rich and nutty!

The moment he took a bite his eyes went wide and he couldn't stop marveling.

Checking freshness with the yolk shape and a needle test

When I cracked the Fresh Farmer eggs into a bowl, the yolk stood up domed instead of spreading, and it didn't burst easily even when I pricked it with a needle. I cracked open the eggs I'd carefully brought home and checked the owner's proud claims one by one.

I cracked an egg into a bowl, and the yolk didn't spread sideways but rose up round and plump, keeping its firm, bouncy look.

A yolk holding together this strongly is the surest proof of freshness. I remembered a scene from the TV show Hansik Daecheop (Korean food competition) saying that the yolk of a fresh egg doesn't burst easily when pricked, so I poked it with a needle myself. I kept prodding it here and there and the elasticity was no joke. I could feel the surface holding up taut right through my fingertips, which was really amazing.

How is a sunny-side up made with fresh eggs different?

When I made a sunny-side up with the Fresh Farmer fertilized eggs, the white didn't spread and held a round shape. I really love sunny-side up eggs where you pop the yolk and eat it. But if an egg is even a little less fresh, the yolk breaks easily or tastes fishy, so it was hard to make at home often. Fresh eggs clearly show a difference from the frying stage. Old eggs usually spread out like water in every direction as soon as you crack them into the pan, right? But this egg's white didn't spread the moment it hit the pan; it gathered up springily and kept a pretty round shape!

In the middle of that firm white, the yolk also stayed right in the center and cooked without wobbling, and the look of it is the best.

Even from the side, the thickness rose up domed and three-dimensional, which made me very happy.

Overall verdict on Fresh Farmer Foreon Direct Store

With super-fresh fertilized eggs this rich and free of off-smells, I feel I can now make soft, silky Japanese tamago kake gohan (raw egg over rice) at home without any worry. Until now I'd just grab whatever eggs looked reasonably priced at the supermarket, but this was a day when I really felt how much a single egg can change the taste of the table and the quality of cooking. I was so satisfied that I'm glad I got curious and looked into it.

Recommended for

• People looking for healthy NON-GMO, truly animal-welfare eggs they can feed their family with peace of mind
• People who want the kind of freshness where the white doesn't spread like water when fried but sets plump and round
• People who want to meet record-level freshness, laid at the farm the same day (★Visiting the Olympic Park Foreon Direct Store on Tue/Thu evenings is strongly recommended!★)

Fresh Farmer direct store eggs turned my dinner table into something like a premium restaurant. If you've been interested in shell numbers or freshness, I'd love for you to visit and experience it yourself. From now on, I'm going to choose my eggs carefully and smartly too!