I thoroughly enjoyed reading all of your guesses yesterday! A 1000 year old egg, a stone, an ostrich egg, an emu egg, a dyed egg for Easter, a duck egg, a type of mango, a gulls egg, an avocado, a marbled stone egg, a watermelon, an Americana chicken egg, and my personal favorite, a wild exotic fruit plucked from the peaks of Mt. Fuji (though for some reason I think that commenter was pulling my leg…). So, who was right? Well, Wendy said, “just tell me it’s not balut, and I’ll be happy…” Well Wendy, you can be happy because it’s definitely not balut! All of you who guessed that it is an emu egg were correct!

So why on Earth did I have an emu egg? Well, my dad stopped by Charlie Brown Farms recently, a farm that’s about an hour and half drive away from where we live. My dad calls it “the holy grail for adventurous eaters” because of all the unique food items that you can find there. He purchased a couple of ostrich eggs, a couple of emu eggs, and some kangaroo meat. This past Sunday the Fujis were invited to come for dinner and he made potato salad using one of the ostrich eggs and we sampled some grilled kangaroo meat. The potato salad was fantastic. I’ve had ostrich egg before, so I knew that it doesn’t really taste any different from a chicken egg, except for maybe being a bit lighter in flavor.The kangaroo meat was perfectly cooked and nice and juicy.
It had a very strong slightly sour gamey flavor. It was good.
I didn’t like it as much as I enjoyed yak, but I would definitely eat it again.
So where does the emu egg fit in? Well, I agreed to do a favor for my dad in exchange for one of the emu eggs. (Now you all know that I can be bribed with strange foods. I also ALWAYS accept chocolate.) It was a gorgeous dark green/slightly teal color about the size of a grapefruit.For comparison, you can see that it is much larger than a chicken egg, but much smaller than an ostrich egg:
Last night I took a clean nail and a hammer,
and made a small hole in one end of the egg.
Then, using a straw, I blew the contents of the egg out into a bowl.
I was curious to how the egg would compare to a large chicken egg, so I got one out for comparison. It’s hard to tell from this picture, but the emu egg contents were a slightly lighter shade of yellow than the chicken egg contents (emu egg on left, chicken egg on right).
I measured the contents out and the emu egg contained 2 cups, whereas the chicken egg contained 1/4 cup. So an emu egg is about the size of EIGHT large chicken eggs!
I then scrambled the emu egg and the chicken egg in separate pans and served them up for a taste test.
The scrambled emu egg was much lighter in color than the scrambled chicken egg–a very pale yellow/cream color (scrambled emu egg is on the right hand side of the plate). The scrambled emu egg was also much lighter and fluffier compared to the sturdier and heavier consistency of the scrambled chicken egg. The scrambled emu egg also had a slightly gelatinous consistency to it. The flavors were pretty similar. If anything, the scrambled emu egg was slightly more bland…like a watered down version of the scrambled chicken egg taste.
We all enjoyed the scrambled emu egg (Squirrel wolfed down several helpings in rapid succession) and would definitely eat it again if presented with the opportunity!
Coming Tomorrow: Bunny Bento
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Excellent and very informative post because not everybody can enjoy emu eggs and kangaroos meat!!
Wow… Squirrel looks like she’s going to inhale her hand along with the emu egg! She must have been one hungry camper!
…and I loved that shot of FujiPapa taking pics. It’s def in the blood!
Thanks for the great comparisons and overview of the eggs Fuji! That was terrific fun!
Can we do an ostrich egg taste test next???
Hi Fjuimama!
You are tagged!
http://zakkaart.blogspot.com/2009/03/busy-addictions.html
^_^
xoxo,
Wynn
That was really interesting. The outside color of the emu egg is very pretty. I’m not sure I’d want to switch from plain old chicken though!
This is a strangely interesting post. That emu egg is a beauty.
I’m so jealous, I want to have access to exotic stuff! I’ll just have to live vicariously through you. ;)
I thought you might be going to carve the shell, because I know you’re quite crafty too.
that is cool! love the color.
Fun! Thanks for showing us this…never would have guessed an emu egg was this color :)
The egg is so beautiful – what did you do with the shell after emptying it? Thanks for sharing this – I’ve not had anything more than various iterations of chicken and duck eggs but now I’d love to try emu or ostrich!
I wish I could have a taste! Never tried an emu egg! How neat!
Looks like a fun adventure in “Foodie Land”! I would be interested in trying the egg and the kangaroo meat.
I really like your idea of comparing the eggs side by side, from the outside, in the measuring container and cooked. Wouldn’t it be fun to see an ostrich egg cooked over-easy? Next post?
What a gorgeous color on that egg. I’m sure nature planned it that way so it cannot be discovered in the grass. I hope you’re going to save the shell It would make a great show and tell.