One Lucky Soul: The Meaning Behind Different Colours of Egg Yolks

The Meaning Behind Different Colours of Egg Yolks by Omar Cherif, One Lucky Soul

After 12 long years throughout my 20s and early 30s of having only coffee in the morning I began enjoying a proper breakfast. Mostly eggs everyday. So now after another 10 years I came to know quite a bit about eggs. In Canada and the U.S the ones I would get all had yellow yolks. Then in Egypt a couple of years back I came across some tasty ones with darker yolks — between light and dark orange, which I fell in love with and stick to ever since. I had once briefly read that the darker the colour the healthier the egg and took it as an established truth. As it turned out, this may be true, though it’s not so black-or-white or that straightforward. More research was needed.   

Now, the difference in the yolk colour lies in the diet as well as health of the chicken who laid them.  

So what is known about the darker orange yolk — shown in the featured photo on the left — is that they are usually laid by pasture-raised hens. The colour of the yolk is an indicator of a healthy and well balanced diet. As explained in an article titled Egg Yolk: From Light Yellow To Deep Orange, Here’s What It Means:

“Since these pasture-raised hens are allowed to roam outdoors, their diet is supplemented by fresh grass and nutritious omnivorous foods like worms, beetles, grasshoppers, and spiders. This diet is rich in carotenoids, which gives living organisms a red or orange colour”.

Speaking of, carotenoids are mentioned in an earlier article here on One Lucky Soul: Why Flamingos Are Pinkish-Orange. As they are the reason behind the peculiar colouring of the birds who feed on shrimp and molluscs which contain these strong coloured pigments.   

Nevertheless, hens don’t necessarily have to be pasture-raised to lay eggs with dark orange yolks. Any hen can lay such an egg if fed nutritious food.  

Further, according to a 2014 Study published by the Journal of Food Science, darker yolks typically contain even more omega-3s and vitamins compared to average lighter yolk eggs.  

Then we have the yellow yolk, which happens to be the most common — shown on the right. The lighter colour is the result of a vegetarian diet — corn, alfalfa, and beans that are rich in a pigment called xanthophylls, which is responsible for giving plants and animals the colour yellow.   

Last and possibly also least, pale yellow yolks. Foods low in xanthophylls, such as wheat , white cornmeal, or barley result in laying eggs with pale yellow, or in some cases even white yolks. Those remain my least favourite as they feel as though they have been washed from the inside or diluted with water. Fortunately, I rarely encounter them, neither in North American nor in Egypt.

  While it seems the darker yolks do provide rich nutrients and vitamins, it does not mean the nutritional value of the egg changes based on the colour of the yolk. No matter the colour, in fact, the same amount of protein and fat are provided. Yet, after this full decade of experimenting — around 3650 days with three eggs on the first 7 years then two — one can safely conclude that orange-yolk eggs are my favourite taste, texture, and consequently also experience of all the rest.   There is something vibrant and radiant to it, and it goes beyond mere colour.
This very “radiance” may actually be felt in the below photo of the homemade Swisstralian CheeseBurger topped with a runny orange egg, prepared as a New Kreation on the Red Sea beach just a few months ago.

The reason I finally wrote about the topic despite being on my mind for a while is that for the past couple of months the same brand that delivered the orange yolks ( بيض سرور - العالمية ) now sells yellow ones instead. I called their customer support number but no one answered... so far. Eventually, the orange colour returned, yet it was me who once again moved base to Dahab — where egg yolks are yellow.  

The more selfish reason behind choosing not to write about it sooner lies in the fear that everyone will go buy these eggs, leaving nothing for myself. Ha-Ha. But the actual truth, however, is that most people do not care at all about such a thing. They don’t even notice different colours exist. For them the colouring is for the outside shell, white and brown. Try it for yourself; go ask around and see. Every now and then one person would be aware, and, unsurprisingly, they would favour the darker yolks — as it just occurred with a reader who commented on this article.

So, I’m not that selfish after all. Then again, I am sharing all the acquired knowledge with you herein. You’re welcome. Speaking of, here is something else I came to learn throughout the years.

The repetition equally taught me how to synchronise the timing of the runny egg with each bite. Meaning, how to keep the eggs cooking for a specific amount of time, that the yolk isn’t too runny nor too solid. I have found the perfect balance — one that allows 2-3 seconds between each bite into the yolk before the yellow juice spreads out and likely fall right into your plate (hopefully). In order not to have to lick the plate later nor waste any [single drop] of the eggs, I cook them à la seconde just to remain solid for those 2-3 seconds following the bite. The next bite carries on the work, then probably the third finishes it. One can always insert the entire yolk into their mouth and get it over with, but naturally two-three-3 separate average bites feel more enjoyable.

Eggselent

I’ve been meaning to write the above information for several years now, but you can imagine how not easy it is to be mid biting into your mouthwatering meal — and utterly enjoying it — while also capturing the moment on camera as the yolk is still holding on to itself, as aseen in the above photo. Experience is truly the best of teachers.

Following those ten years, I now concur with the fact that having a good breakfast is truly one of the healthiest and most eggsquisitely eggceptional things you can do to your body and your whole day.

Though before we say Adios, I feel compelled to share that the honest reason I started having breakfast is the fact that by then I had stopped waking up to the piercing sound of alarms at insanely early hours of the day. So depending on the time I wake up, I eat two or three hours later, be it at 10 or noon, which is more like a brunch. To be hungry as soon as you wake up, knowing that you have to shave/wear makeup, get dressed, beat traffic, and show up at work on time at 7 or 8 am, sounds like an impossibility. If you can manage that, big Kudos to you. I remember lacking the appetite, at least for a full and proper breakfast. So coffee it was. Grateful these days are long gone, and so is my body and entire being.

“Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a pauper.”