Emu eggs increasing in popularity

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While I was at the Perth Royal Show in Western Australia, I wrote about a stall that was selling emu products. We used to have a pet emu and when she laid her clutch of eggs each year, we would ‘blow’ them and make sponge cakes in a baking dish as one egg was equal to about eight to a dozen hen eggs. They are also high in protein. We did try them scrambled but the flavour was too strong for our liking. The sponges were a rich yellow and very acceptable especially when split and filled with our own whipped cream. It seems emu eggs are becoming popular among the general public and in some of our top restaurants. A news item yesterday said that emu farmers having trouble keeping up with the demand. Emus lay one emerald green egg about every three days and only lays during winter. In the wild, the male takes over incubating the eggs and rearing the chicks. A leading chef said that demand has been increasing over the last five or six years. Another chef cures the yolks for six months to grate and season meat. With the whites, he makes lemon-myrtle marshmallow. It’s good to find a use for emu eggs. It means another native creature may be around a bit longer than would otherwise be the case.