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.
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.
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| Different colours of eggs from different breeds of chicken. How visually appealing. |
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 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.
I’ve been also meaning to particularly share the above information for quite some time. But you can imagine how challenging it is to be mid biting into your mouthwatering meal — and utterly enjoying it — while also capturing the moment on camera while the yolk is still holding on to itself, as seen in the above photo. Experience is truly the best of teachers.
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| Eggselent |
Speaking of lessons, the following is yet another bit of knowledge about eggshells which was acquired as a teenager in school:
There
are many things that tend to influence our actions and behaviours in
life. Usually we are unaware of why we do what we do, but sometimes we
are be able to trace the connection using memories often imbedded in the
subconscious.
Now,
ever since starting to make eggs many moons ago I’ve been using the
simple hack to remove broken pieces of eggshells from the bowl or pan.
Rather than digging your fingers in the raw egg to chase them which may
be a tad
tricky, or using a spoon which may be a wee bit easier and faster, I
use the rest of the half shell to scoop them out. This has been the
easiest, fastest, and most convenient way as the past 15 years of almost
daily eggs for breakfast have shown. It is no myth yet it is no common
knowledge either.
But
then so what? There are many websites and chef videos stating the same.
Well, what is remarkable in my case is that I first learned such useful
trick in a chemistry class as a young boy at school — even more moons
ago. The teacher was most probably discussing the chemical compositions
of eggshells and the elements they contain like Calcium Carbonate and
maybe also the Ph level inside the egg. He then shared with us kids the
golden nugget as a real-life example from nowhere other than the
kitchen: “… And that is why pieces of eggshells are attracted to each
other even after cracking, that you can pick the small broken pieces
using the larger part.” Aha.
Out
of the magnanimous amount of information we were required to learn by
heart during school, many if to most tend to evaporate after graduation.
Some little things, however, like the magnetic property of eggshells
here seem to stick to my memory — pun intended.
Over three decades later today I still remember the chemistry teacher whenever scooping in the kitchen. Merci Monsieur.
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| Homemade Swisstralian CheeseBurger with mushrooms, onion, and toppled with a runny orange fried-egg |
Following this latest decade, I now concur with the fact that having a decent 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 and enjoying 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 of waking 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 9 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.”
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