It was pretty clear evidence that as far as eggs go, the mindset of the taster has far more bearing on the flavor of the egg than the egg itself.
I want my yolks to be crystalline in texture, at the transition point between runny and chalky. Not precious about yolk colouring. Must be easy to peel.
There are absolutely differences in egg quality when it comes to boiling them.... Specific brands (some of the expensive/omega/free range etc ones too) reliably come out gelatinous and fiddly to peel. Some come out rubbery. Some just taste wrong and bland, even when I sprinkle with Maldon salt flakes. Not one egg, the entire batch.
Over years of trial and error, I found a brand where I can guarantee a consistent textural outcome from my process, and every morning I exclaim "THAT is a good boiled egg" after finishing it.
One uses all the senses when eating. For eggs the quality of the yolk is obvious by looking.
Although now you bring it up,it would be interesting to see whether actually blindfolded taste tests would confirm or deny your idea that the visible quality of the yolk correlates with it's (non-visible) taste.
It has nothing to to with depriving a participant of their sense of sight (except incidentally.)
(NB I'm not claiming there is no difference in flavour and quality - there absolutely is - but it's interesting how easily suggestible people are by the external appearance)
In my student days, thirty years ago, you would have to be careful buying wine from a supermarket as it could be borderline undrinkable.
Nowadays? Not so much. Even the cheapest swill is drinkable. Not really nice or flavorful, but certainly not disgusting.
But I'm a point in statistics where I'm not someone who can do taste tests as I cannot discern slight changes in recipe.
I live in a baltic state and as for tomatoes, I always enjoy when someone gives home-grown ones. When it is season they are OK in supermarket too. But nothing beats homegrown ones. However when there is no season, I don't like market tomatoes - "tastes as rubber".
> Norway is not part of the EU and can have it's own, more strict rules.
EU doesn't prevent having more strict rules than baseline they set.
Note that while a state can have stricter rules for production, they can't prevent import and sale of products from less strict states of the single market area.
Yeah, that's unfortunately the sad fact of living here, even more so the longer north you go - there's really no such thing as "in-season" veggies. Closest would be potatoes, and maybe some other things at the farmers markets.
We're all used to everything pretty much tasting like water. I was 22 years old the first time I tasted "real" tomatoes in southern Europe.
What we do have, though, is fresh seafood - if you live along the coast. But that's not for everyone. I usually buy freshly caught cod/haddock/pollock/halibut from the local fish market, as well as shrimp and king crab, which isn't horribly expensive when you live so close to the (beginning of the) supply chain.
But my wife and her family are tomato people. Every time we visit Poland or anybody from Poland visits us, they need to bring some malinowy (raspberry) tomatoes. Premium price, color slightly pinkish rather than true red, shape is a little bulbous, like a pumpkin, rather than perfect round like regular tomatoes.
You can actually get them (or other good tomatoes) even in many supermarkets, tho it's best to go to a local produce market. And ofc best ones can be had from people growing their own.
Same really goes for eggs - there is another dimension to taste and you get more sated eating less, if you can buy eggs from someone feeding the chicks properly. Though, if I had a car and knew a good source, I could probably buy better eggs here in Norway. However, supermarket eggs (and meat too) are much better in Norway. Most likely due to more stringent rules for animal farming, as Norway is not part of the EU and can have it's own, more strict rules. For example, Norwegian bacon doesn't smell like men's locker room after a football game (compared to swedish) and doesn't have a ton of water leave it when frying.