The eggs on display at the organic market. Telegraph picture

Nov. 30: The fun of making seven omelettes out of one egg is here. The organic market at Six Mile has started selling deep blue or green big emu eggs at the market complex.

Eating emu eggs may burn a hole in your pocket as each of these costs Rs 1,100. But there is no harm in trying for once as nearly one third of the egg stock has already been sold out. Besides, to make you happy there is 20 per cent discount.

“Till now, we have sold 10 eggs and have a current stock of around 20 eggs. We import these from Gujarat,” said Pawan Agarwala, director of Neog Agro Alliance — the business group which runs the market.

The emu is the largest bird native to Australia. It is the second-largest extant bird in the world in height after ostrich. There are three subspecies of emus in Australia.

Those who have tasted emu eggs said these taste almost similar to eggs laid by hens. They said emu eggs were delicious and make one of the best omelettes. The market also sells emu meat at Rs 600 a kilo. The marketing hub was set up at the initiative of the department of agriculture and the Assam State Agricultural Marketing Board on an approximately 3.5 bighas of land. The total project cost was Rs 7 crore.

Since inauguration in May this year, the market has been selling a variety of indigenous vegetables cultivated without using fertilisers.

There is almost no price difference between the items sold in the organic market and those found in an ordinary market in the city. Agarwala said organic vegetables are much costlier in other places. “Here we are trying to maintain equal price level to encourage people to eat organic vegetables. But we are incurring losses in the process,” he said. Agarwala said they do not keep vegetables for two days. “The vegetables which are left at the end of the day are sold out to hotels at a cheaper price,” he said.

He said they had farms in the Khetri area of Kamrup district and in Phulguri of Nagaon from where the vegetables are brought for sale.

Agarwala said they would open a departmental store next month in response to the huge demand from customers.