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FAQ about eggs

Question: How should eggs be stored?

Answer: Egg shells contain as many as 17,000 pores, through which the egg can absorb flavors and odors and emit water.  Storing eggs in the original cartons helps to keep them fresh. Eggs should always be refrigerated; an egg will age faster at room temperature than in the refrigerator.

Question: Why are some hard cooked eggs difficult to peel?

Answer: Fresh eggs are more difficult to peel after they are boiled. Eggs kept in the refrigerator for a week to ten days before boiling will peel more easily. Hard-boiled eggs are usually good for up to one week after they have been hard boiled, as long as the shell is not cracked.

Question: What are the stringy white pieces in egg whites?

Answer: The rope-like strands of egg white, called chalazae (kah-lay-za), are a natural, edible part of the egg, not an imperfection or embryo. Chalazae helps to keep the yolk centered in the white and are most noticeable when eggs are very fresh.

Question: Why are some egg yolks paler than others?

Answer: The color of the yolk is dictated by what the hen eats. Natural carotenoid ingredients such as grass meal, maize, capsicum or marigold products are often used in hens’ feed, which give a deeper colored yolk.

Question: What is the red spot I can see in the yolk?

Answer: This is most likely to be what is called a ‘blood spot’, which comes from a ruptured blood vessel. It is relatively common and safe to eat.

Question: Why are some eggs double yolked?

Answer: Double yolkers (eggs containing two yolks) tend to come from young hens whose hormone system has not yet fully developed. It is quite rare for an egg to be ‘double yolked’. However, because all the hens in a flock are the same age, it is not unusual to find more than one double yolker in a box.

Question: Why are some eggshells brown and some white?

Answer: The color of the eggshell depends on the breed of the hen. In general, white hens produce white eggs and brown hens brown eggs, but some crossings exist. There is no nutritional difference between white and brown shelled eggs.

(source: Danish Agriculture and Food Council)

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