As early as the 16th century, the humanist Gabriel Alonso de Herrera gave advice on raising chickens at home in his work The Twelve Books of Agriculture. In Spain, however, for centuries poultry farming was an activity linked to self-consumption in rural areas. Therefore, it had to wait until the 20th century for the Spaniards to eat eggs en masse with the advent of industrial livestock farming. Once they embarked on this path, there was no one to separate them from the nation’s destiny.
In Spain the laying hen count exceeds 40 million. These produce more than 1,000 million dozen eggs a year, making the country one of the top egg producers in the European Union, according to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food website. In recent years, more and more companies are giving preference to quality over quantity, which is reflected in chickens that roam freely in their coops and products that respect nature’s time. Also at slightly higher prices.
These four brands spoil the production process to the max, selling dozens of eggs that are really worth eating, no matter how many people think they’re all the same and that, after all, an egg is an egg. Believe us: not everything is written about eggs, although we have been writing about them since the 16th century.
Celtic Gaul
The owner of the Galo Celta company, David Sueiro, produces eggs on his farm that have made chefs like Martín Berasategui or Pepe Solla fall in love. This is the only way he can ensure that he sells the most expensive egg in the world. If not, you shouldn’t be far: a single old hen’s egg of this brand costs up to two euros. More than fifteen years ago he started his business on a small farm in Vila de Cruces, in Pontevedra. He did it a bit by accident. In the shop, they sold poultry since there were free-range roosters, but one day Chef Berasategui asked them for some eggs. They sent them to him, he liked them and they have always remained one of the signature dishes of his kitchen. Today they continue to collaborate with their restaurant in the town of Lasarte-Oria.
These eggs have become famous because the hens that lay them only eat a specially formulated corn-based feed developed by the same company. In addition, they have a calculated environmental certificate, which is an indicator of the impact of their production on their environment. Now they have two production centers in Castile-La Mancha and Galicia.” “In our production system we have always put quality before profitability. From the beginning, our only intention was to make a good product, like our ancestors did,” affirms Sueiro.
All with the guarantee of being an artisanal, exclusive, luxurious and respectful product with tradition. Two types of eggs are sold in Galo Celta: from young and old hens. Each has very different characteristics; For example, eggs from younger hens have more protein and consistency. However, the older eggs are creamier, they have more good fats (omega-3 and 6). And its yolk is bigger. They are available at the Gourmet Club of El Corte Inglés.
cowards and chickens
Curro Ulzurrun has started a project using eggs from local hens in the wild – he hates the term, meaning hackneyed happy hens – which have become some of the most sought-after in Madrid. Cowards and Chickens works like Netflix: for a monthly subscription, you ensure the arrival of what many consider the capital’s best eggs at home. At the moment they have a line of 500 people hoping to someday be part of such a distinguished club.
Cowards and Gallinas has more than 1,000 members who have signed up since 2019. Two dozen eggs cost 17 euros each month and are distributed across the peninsula. One secret: if you’re not one of those people who can’t wait to try them, you can also buy your eggs in gourmet shops in Madrid like El Corte Inglés Gourmet Club.
For Ulzurrun, the secret is in the food. “An egg is what the chicken eats, so its nutrition is so important,” he says. Because of this, they have also prepared their own food to feed them. The secret of its formula lies in the peppers from La Vega and the flax used, admits one of the owners of Cobardes y Gallinas. “The best eggs come from hens with a very good quality of life,” he says. Therefore, their system is based on small farms with only 1,200 birds each.
Although it is very difficult to distinguish a good egg, the intense color of the yolk and its density are some of the characteristics that distinguish the quality egg from the ordinary. Another feature of coward and chicken eggs is that eggs of different colors can be found in each box. “We put different breeds of eggs in each box, so some may be white, blue or red,” explains Ulzurrun, who describes a meal made with his eggs as a taste explosion when the bread touches a yolk they produce.
round farms
César Redondo is the owner and manager of Granjas Redondo. The farm in the Sierra de Gredos has always been family-owned since 1956, but it was only in 1996 that Redondo and his brother joined the family business and started egg production, respecting the welfare of the environment and its animals. . Their eggs became famous because King Emeritus Juan Carlos I likes to eat them whenever he can.
They have 1,200 chickens on their farm and work in partnership with other affiliated organic farms in the area. The farm produces all types of eggs: free range, floor, cage and organic. The diet of their chickens is based on natural feed made from soybeans, corn, barley and even coloring: those used for the yolk come from marigold imported from Mexico. For Redondo, a good egg must be very centered when opening. For him, the quality of the egg can be measured by the thickness of the albumen. “It has to be thick, you can’t spread it all over the pan,” he explains.
Its equipment has the capacity to produce more than 20,000 eggs per hour. And at their facilities, they collect 200,000 eggs every day, according to their website. “We sell everything we produce,” says Redondo. The average weight of their eggs is 70 grams. Granjas Redondo was a pioneer in Spain in setting up chalets for free-range hens. This made it possible to build small wooden houses where the birds sleep after walking all day. “Caring for the hens is very important, we are aware that the quality of the eggs that go to market depends on it,” he says.
The mansion of Vilane
Nuria Varela-Portas is proud when she talks about her chickens. For her, her business is not in egg production, but in raising chickens, she explains. “We were the first in Spain to produce free-range eggs from chickens that live in complete freedom,” he says. Today they even have their own animal welfare department, where they keep coming up with new projects to better care for the chickens.
Portas recalls that years ago there wasn’t even a regulation defining the different types of breeding, so at the Pazo de Vilane farm they just limited themselves to explaining to anyone who asked that their chickens roam freely. His farm was born in Lugo as a family initiative that tried to resume the activity of the Pazo in order to restore its activity, rehabilitate its historical heritage and help the community.
“There was latent demand and it was a very interesting product because they saw how the free range chicken farms in France worked,” he says. Now the market has changed and the egg sector has very competitive prices. They started with 50 chickens and now have 16 farms and 48 employees. Your company always wanted to differentiate itself from the market with a real field hen’s egg. His chickens feed on everything that the land and its pastures have to offer. In addition, they use cereals, legumes and all the nutrients that exist: even the small worms that live in the soil of the field serve to improve the quality of production.
For Varela-Portas, the quality of an egg shows that it is clean, fresh and without cracks: “When companies are very large, care and quality are lost.” Their eggs are available in all supermarkets, a dozen costs 3.50 Euro.
Errata: In a first version, the price for eggs from El Pazo de Vilane was given as 3.50 euros per half dozen. Sorry and thank you for letting us know.