Eggs and strawberries: spring wins

Breakfast got a little simpler this week. Dietitians speaking to TODAY said the part of the egg many people have been taught to fear—the yolk—is also the part that carries fat, flavor, and nutrients the white does not, including omega‑3 fats. A large egg still lands at only about 72 calories with roughly 6 grams of protein, and the split is closer than many people assume: the white has more protein than the yolk, but the yolk is not nutritionally empty; it also brings vitamin D, choline, and most of the egg’s fat-soluble nutrients (today.com, fdc.nal.usda.gov). That makes the whole egg less like a dietary vice and more like a compact pantry item. If you are trying to stretch groceries, tossing the yolk means throwing away the richest part of the food you already paid for. The tradeoff is straightforward: yolks contain saturated fat and cholesterol too, so they fit best inside an overall diet that keeps saturated fat in check rather than treating eggs as either miracle food or menace (today.com, heart.org). At almost the same moment, strawberry season is shifting into its California phase, which matters a lot more than it sounds. FreshPlaza reports that California is supplying about 91% of U.S. strawberries this season, after producing nearly 3.25 billion pounds in 2024. Florida’s crop is winding down, while California’s spring and summer fields are ramping up, so the berries now filling supermarket clamshells are increasingly coming from farms a few hours south of Fremont rather than from the other side of the country (freshplaza.com, freshfruitportal.com). That concentration helps explain both the bargains and the fragility of spring produce. When one state dominates supply, a strong California harvest can keep berries abundant and prices competitive. It also means weather, labor, water, and shipping problems in one region can ripple across the whole country. The U.S. strawberry business is still growing—FreshFruitPortal says production recently topped 2.6 billion pounds and is expected to pass 2.7 billion this year—but the industry itself describes the 2026 season as expanding and “rocky,” an unusually candid phrase for a crop report (freshfruitportal.com). Put those two stories together and spring looks unusually practical. Whole eggs remain one of the cheapest fast proteins in the store, especially for breakfasts, fried rice, grain bowls, or a last-minute frittata built from leftovers. Strawberries are arriving in force just as local supply improves, with Americans eating about eight pounds per person each year and likely more when fruit is plentiful (freshplaza.com, freshfruitportal.com). So the season’s small win is not glamorous. It is a carton of eggs you do not need to separate, and a box of berries that now has a good chance of coming from California fields already deep into their spring run. One goes into the skillet whole. The other can stay exactly as it is, cold from the fridge, red to the center.