What's the difference between white and brown eggs?

It's another of those egg questions that comes up often. Someone will call our office or approach one of our farmers at an event, admit they prefer brown eggs because of the colour or white eggs because of their clean look, but then mention they've always wondered about the difference between the two options at the egg case. Well, here's the answer to the "what's the difference?" question straight from Josiah, a junior egg farmer in Jordan, Ontario, son of Chris Mullet Koop, one of the farmers in our Who Made Your Eggs Today? campaign. There can be exceptions to the rule and some white-feathered breeds of hens can lay brown eggs and vice versa, however most often white lays white and brown lays brown. Which you prefer or purchase is, of course, up to you! Rest assured you will get the same freshness, quality and nutrition from both brown and white eggs. Once people get the answer to the brown vs white egg question, inevitably they want to know why brown eggs are usually more expensive than white eggs. There are a few reasons: * There are more white eggs than brown eggs available which makes brown eggs a novelty or a specialty egg. * The hens that lay brown eggs tend to be a little bigger so they eat a little more which makes it cost more to produce these eggs. Just to make the egg colour issue even more interesting, did you know there is a breed of hen called Araucana that lays pastel greenish/blueish eggs? You won't find these eggs very often, if ever, as the hens are not commonly around. The place to look for these eggs would be a farmers' market or specialty or upscale grocery store. The eggs have been touted as having less cholesterol, but in fact their cholesterol content is similar to regular white and brown eggs. (If you're concerned about cholesterol, keep in mind that cholesterol in our food isn't what raises blood cholesterol.)