Oh geez, go figure. I just KNEW it was going to happen...

I've used the same orange muffin recipe for years, so at least THAT won't change.

Annie

Wow, that's really poor merchandising when muffin tins come as six or twelve cups. I rarely bake but I would be very unhappy about that - I guess I would make 12 slightly smaller ones also.

Lee

I'm still broken up about the no-longer-half-gallons of ice cream. :(

I think Bluebell still has half gallons, but it's not sold everywhere.

I wonder what the difference is, that you got 12 even when they said it would make 11. I sometimes have more muffin batter/dough than I do holes in my pan, but I have some cute silicon muffin/cupcake holders that have 2 little feet they stand on. My grandson loves those, so I have to put some of the batter in those. Sometimes I have empty holes in my muffin pan then. I've heard that you should fill the empty ones with water, but I've discovered that causes problems when it's time to get the muffins out of the pan.

Sally

Bluebell from Brenham? Good stuff!

Barilla pasta recently changed its packaging from mostly blue to orange. They also changed the weight of the contents, but you have to look very closely to see the orange printing on the orangey picture that there is no longer a pound of pasta in the package. It's only 13.24 oz, a big cut in my opinion. I was so angry that they tried to hide the new weight that I called the consumer service number and let them know that it was insulting to consumers to try to hide the change. The rep admitted that they had gotten quite a number of calls about it.

I hate it when companies, like Barilla, try to do things in a sneaky way by an attempt to hide things. That's just uncalled for, and begs the question of their other practices in the actual making of the food items.

And sometimes the fault lies elsewhere.

Many years ago, I saw a woman at the supermarket who was switching eggs--putting larger eggs into a 'medium' carton, and putting the medium eggs into the 'jumbo' carton. When I mentioned it to the manager, he looked at me as if I were the one who was crazy--for even mentioning it.

Sure enough, just last week, I was a victim of this. DH bought a dozen eggs for me. He always buys Jumbo--even though I've told him recipes are designed for medium eggs. Anyway, I opened the box to find 11 lovely Jumbo eggs, and one teeny, tiny little one that couldn't have been larger than a medium. But I can't fault the store, I assume it was a customer who shrank that dozen.

Ciao, laceyvail! Though the design of the Barilla Whole Grain packaging changed recently, the amount of pasta in the package stayed the same, it has always been 13.25 ounces of pasta (listed on the bottom right corner of the box) and will be for the foreseeable future. In fact, you might notice some additional changes to the packaging in the coming months, but there will be no changes to the amount of pasta in the box. As we make changes in the future, we consider feedback such as yours in our decision making! If you have any questions, please contact us at 1-800-922-7455 or consumer.care@barilla.com.

Elyse from the Barilla PLUS team

Azzalea, I think that if a recipe does not specify egg size it is assumed that you would use large eggs.

I don't think I have any recipes that even specify medium eggs. I only purchase large or extra large eggs.

~Ann

In my pantry the Barilla whole grain is 13.25 ounces (former blue and new brown packaging are the same). The Plus is 14.5 ounces.

"And sometimes the fault lies elsewhere.
Many years ago, I saw a woman at the supermarket who was switching eggs--putting larger eggs into a 'medium' carton, and putting the medium eggs into the 'jumbo' carton."

Exactly why I ALWAYS open each dozen of eggs
and check them BEFORE I buy them.
And why I also always instruct anyone who might
Be shopping for me.
To do the very same thing.

"I think that if a recipe does not specify egg size it is assumed that you would use large eggs."

I beg to disagree with that.

I was taught that if egg size is not specified,
(as it often is not)
medium is to be used..
Which is why you never see
"medium" specified as the size to use.
Also why other sizes ARE specified.

Makes good sense to me. . . . .

Rusty

"Although you can use any size egg for frying, scrambling, cooking in the shell or poaching, most recipes for baked items such as custards and cakes are based on the use of Large eggs."

- The Incredible Edible Egg

Here is a link that might be useful: Incredible Edible Egg

The size of eggs used in recipes, unless specifically noted is based on large eggs. i have rarely seen mention of medium eggs anywhere. Ina Garten often specifies extra large eggs but she is an exception.

I stand by my original statement.

4-H leaders of the baking projects I took
in the late 40's & early 50's,
And high school Home Ec teachers (mid 50's)
Taught us to use medium eggs
unless otherwise specified.

Although truth be known.
Very few of us ever had "boughten eggs".
When we wanted to bake something,
We used whatever our chickens had produced for us.
Regardless of size.

How egg sizes in recipes are interpreted
may have changed since then,
But that's how I've done it all these years.
And results have always been good.

End of discussion.

Rusty

When my daughter took 4-H, large eggs were the norm, the standard a recipe was based on.
If you are making a cake with only 2 eggs, it won't matter a lot of you use medium eggs, but if you are making a sponge cake calling for say 5 eggs....and you use medium eggs.
The difference between a large egg and a medium egg is 1/4 of an ounce. Won't matter for scrambled eggs but for a custard calling for 4 eggs, that's a big difference.
4 large eggs equals one cup....4 medium eggs equals 3/4 of a cup.

Oh, Rusty, as my students would say..."you so funny!!!!"

Just because YOU say it's the end of the discussion, well, that doesn't mean that it IS the end of the discussion! You don't want to come off as Mr. Bossy Pants, now do ya??? :O)

I was grocery shopping at two large supermarkets yesterday and I saw every imaginable permutation of brown, white, organic, cage-free, Omega-3, etc. eggs in large, extra large and jumbo, but the one thing I didn't find was any medium eggs. Heck, even the Egg Beaters instructions only gave equivalencies to large eggs!

Do a search on "what size eggs to use in baking" and you'll have do dig further than the dozen or so sites that I checked, to find any recommendation other than large.

So I'm going to go on believeing that unless specified, recipes call for large eggs. Large chicken eggs, while we're at it.

"Just because YOU say it's the end of the discussion, well, that doesn't mean that it IS the end of the discussion! You don't want to come off as Mr. Bossy Pants, now do ya??? :O)"

I meant end of my part in this discussion.

Rusty

I don't want to start a 'flame war' but.............
I think Rusty should now be called 'Rusty Bossy Pants'.
JUST KIDDING. (I've never heard the term Mr. Bossy
Pants, but I LOVE it). I think that's what I will
call 'Mother', from now on, (similar to SWMBO), (sorry
Joniliu.) Of course, I will only call her that under
my breath, or here. It's bad enough I call her Mother,
I guess.

Too funny! "She Who Must Be Obeyed" is a hoot! Glad to add some fun to your day, lbpod ! I had this one HORRIBLE student (high school spec ed) who was just a PITA because of the poor parenting skills his parents had, and whenever I said his name, I told myself his name secretly meant... well...something else entirely. He later ended up having to move out of state and in with an aunt or someone because of his bad criminal ways [to avoid being taken out of his home and placed in juvenile hall in our state], and eventually, he deservedly landed in jail.

Glad Rusty clarified things for us, yes?

"Do a search on "what size eggs to use in baking" and you'll have do dig further than the dozen or so sites that I checked, to find any recommendation other than large.

So I'm going to go on believing that unless specified, recipes call for large eggs...."

FOAS, that was my experience too. Even as far back as High School Home Ec it was taught that large eggs were used unless otherwise specified. And I don't remember any recipe actually specifying medium or small eggs.

Ann

We might all be better off with medium eggs...

"[1975]
"A reader of Harper's Weekly recently wrote a letter to the editor asking why big eggs cost more than little eggs. The letter said size-12 shoes or socks cost no more than smaller sizes, although they contain more material. It also said that if you buy foodstuffs other than eggs in bulk, it's their total weight, not their size but unit, that determines the price. What then, is the justification for charging more for jumbo eggs than for peewee eggs? The letter-writer suspects that the price difference just pays for the machines that sort the big ones from the little ones. Because Harper's Weekly has been laggard in answering the reader's question, we thought we would look into it. The answer is because big eggs cost more than little eggs because big eggs are laid by bigger hens. Pullets lay peewees and don't eat much. Old hens heading for the stewpot lay jumbos and eat a lot. That's what it comes down to--chicken feed. Still, we can't accept that as a good reason. It seems to us that the overall price of eggs might be lower if the egg people got rid of their sorting machines and sold their eggs by the pound--big and little ones together. The egg people agree that it might lower prices. But they won't do it. They won't do it because consumers have a hangup on big eggs. They think they're better than little eggs. They're not. In fact, the bigger the egg, the runnier it is. Little eggs hold together better and don't stream all over the frying pan...There is...no nutritional difference--big or little--between big and little eggs. That's myth. Just like the myth that it's worth paying more for brown eggs because they're tastier and more nutritious than white eggs. They're not. Brown eggs cost more than white eggs because they're laid by hens that are bigger at the same age--and eat more--than the hens that lay white eggs of exactly the same size. OK?"
---"The Egg and You," Los Angeles Times, May 4, 1975 (p. H2)"

Larger eggs are no better & usually cost more per pound. The Grade is the quality indicator. You have to check the various prices each shopping trip to be sure of the best buy though 'cause they vary quite a bit, at least here. I can remember buying medium eggs. Then, when I felt a bit more affluent started buying large eggs because...well, because I thought it was the "thing" to do.

In baking, I use mostly Frontier Certified Organic Powdered Eggs.

/tricia

Here is a link that might be useful: Food Timeline - Eggs

Not to beat this into the ground.....but I sure disagree with the writer....big eggs are not runnier...old eggs are runnier. Good quality huge eggs are wonderful ( but not always for baking, messes up your recipe). I love having a big old double yolked over easy egg for breakfast!
And pullets eat plenty....they are growing.
There are times when medium eggs may be a better buy....but figuring out the math, the percent of total price that is the difference between a dozen large eggs and a dozen medium is not worth the time.The only time I buy medium eggs is when I am dying them for Easter.

I don't think I've ever bought "medium" sized eggs, I was always told to use large eggs unless otherwise specified.

Of course, I usually have eggs from my own chickens or I buy them from a local Amish farm and so they are all sizes. I just crack a couple into whatever and it's always come out pretty much OK. (shrug)

Pullets do eat a lot because they are growing, and big fat old hens eat about the same amount. The difference is that a pullet will give you an egg a day, a hen that's a few years old will give you maybe half as many, or 75% if you're lucky. So, in volume/weight, the pullet will produce more eggs that are smaller and a big hen will produce fewer but larger eggs. Truthfully, I think it's pretty much a wash as to cost.

Annie