RE: eggs for albumen printing/ was "Apis or not Apis)
Judy, > The claim about "free range" is a joke, right? but in 2002-3, printers agreed that powdered was fine, and the words "free range" were unmentioned. But this is another joke... right? > No. My question to Ms. Zimmerman was serious as I thought her answer was, even though there were quite a few giggles and quips from the audience. If her answer wasn't made in jest then she uses eggs laid by free range chickens. She lives out in Taos and I can see where she could have enough room to raise her own chickens with a steady egg supply except during the winter when production will naturally decrease. Perhaps she was being polite and humoring me. And by winter she probably has a nice stockpile of albumen salted away. I don't eat store bought eggs whole or dry. I have no evidence to the contrary but it just seems to me using a product with all natural ingredients would be better for albumen coating rather than eggs produced by chickens that receive hormones in their feed to make them lay eggs. Free range eggs taste better, cook better, look better, have thicker shells, and have a greater economic value to their producers (not the chickens of course.) Our local Korean, Chinese, and Russian communities prize free range eggs and are willing to pay a premium price for them. Local jurisdictions all over the country have had to enact new laws to prevent city dwellers from raising their own fowl. This is in part due to growing ethnic populations that prefer their own chicken and eggs than what one can purchase through grocers. I don't know if you eat chicken Judy but free range chickens have much better flavor and texture. Same for other fowl, even quail. Just ask any black snake, raccoon, fox, or opossum, they all prefer free range eggs! Perhaps albumen made from quail eggs would work better than chicken albumen. But I confess, I'm not an albumen printer so my thinking is just conjecture. Don
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