The Maximum Leader knows of what he speaks. At least when he is talking about food. Several months ago, he wrote a short blog that commented on the flavor of his humanely-raised pasture-fed beef supplied by yours truly. While my less sophisticated palette had not picked up on the “beefier” flavor, the ML thought that the beef had a bit stronger beefiness and hypothesized that it came from an all-grass diet. As I was surfing the “Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas” website - attra.ncat.org - I came across a bulletin that discusses how small farmers can market their PFB - Pasture Finished Beef. It reported on various taste tests conducted by agricultural extension agents and made the same point that the ML did - and also ascribed it to the fact that the high-grain diet most beef receives “washes” out the flavor.

This makes sense to me but it is nice to see it explained. The same concept holds true for eggs; check out the bland yellow yolks of your weeks-old grocery store eggs. The bland yellow exists because of the extensive grain diet of the chickens. If hens have access to forage and the outdoors, the yolk colors will shift toward a richer orange-yellow tint. Analphilosopher once wrote a post about the confusion inherent in selecting a “free range” egg. Many of the labels used by marketers are extremely misleading. My advice to those who seek eggs laid by hens who have freedom and access to nature is to check the yolks. The color don’t lie and, protected by the shell, isn’t subject to recoloring like margerine.

Update from the Maximum Leader: If for no other reason than the title, your Maximum Leader wholeheartedly endorses this post.