Egg Yolk: From Light Yellow To Deep Orange, Here's What It Means

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• Egg yolk: From light yellow to deep orange, here's what it means

TrendingExpensive Countries In WorldQueen Of Arabian SeaGoa Travel ExperienceGolden HourSnake EggsUS VisaCarl JungAgatha ChristieMarcus AureliusBaby Girl NamesExpensive Countries In WorldQueen Of Arabian SeaGoa Travel ExperienceGolden HourSnake EggsUS VisaCarl JungAgatha ChristieMarcus AureliusBaby Girl NamesExpensive Countries In WorldQueen Of Arabian SeaGoa Travel ExperienceGolden HourSnake EggsUS VisaCarl JungAgatha ChristieMarcus AureliusBaby Girl NamesEgg yolk: From light yellow to deep orange, here's what it meansUpdated: Aug 21, 2019, 14:33 ISTShareAA+Text Size

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​Does the colour of yolk make a difference

Eggs are one of the most popular foods in the market. Everyone, rich or poor, partakes in the consumption of the superfood. The smell of egg might be off-putting to some, but anyone who has eaten it can tell you eggs-actly how delicious it is. There are so many ways to prepare an egg, so there is a recipe to fulfil everyone's eggs-pectations. The key source of nutrition in an egg is the yolk, which contains most of the fats, calories, vitamins and minerals. We usually associate the yolk of an egg as being deep orange. Indians would know that more often than not, this is not the case. Most eggs we buy in the market are light orange or pale yellow. So what gives yolks their colour, and is any one colour better than the other? Let’s find out.

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​What gives the yolk it’s colour

First of all, let us understand what causes the yolk to be a dark or a light shade of orange. The colour of the yolk has nothing to do with the quality or flavour of the egg, although yolks of different colours may possess different micronutrient concentrations. But more on that later. The colour of the yolk depends solely on the diet of the hen, and there are certain compounds found in food that influence the colour of the yolk.

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​Dark orange

Eggs with a dark orange yolk are mostly laid by pasture-raised hens. The colour of the yolk is influenced by a healthy and well balanced diet. Pasture-raised hens are allowed to roam on outdoor pastures, where 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, therefore causing the dark orange yolk colour. However, a hen doesn’t have to be pasture-raised to lay an egg with a dark orange yolk. Any hen can lay such an egg if fed nutritious food.

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Mid orange to yellow

Hens raised on a vegetarian diet lay eggs with light coloured yolks. Such hens are fed foods like corn, alfalfa, and beans, all of which are rich in a pigment called xanthophylls, which is responsible for giving plants and animals the colour yellow, hence influencing the colour of the yolk. This is the most common yolk colour.

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Pale yellow

Hens that are fed a diet that comprises of foods low in xanthophylls, such as wheat , white cornmeal, or barley lay eggs with pale yellow, or in some cases even white yolks.

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Implications on health

Hens fed more nutritious food will not only lay eggs with a darker coloured yolk, but the eggs will also be bigger in size. When it comes to nutrition, eggs with a darker yolk have been shown to contain higher levels of vitamins A and C, and omega fatty acids. However, although the macronutrient composition is the same for eggs with different yolk colours, we have to also take into account the size of the egg. A larger egg will certainly contain more nutrients because of the higher albumin and yolk concentration.

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What about the shell colour?

Unlike the colour of the egg yolk, the colour of the egg shell does not depend on the hen’s diet. Rather, the colour of the egg shell depends on the breed and colour of the hen. Hens with white feathers lay white-shelled eggs, and hens with red feathers lay brown-shelled eggs. But why are brown-shelled eggs more expensive? The breeds that lay eggs with a brown shell are much larger, and are therefore fed food with more nutrition and in higher quantity. So the cost of raising these hens is pricier.

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Bottomline

There are many diets that are given to chickens in order to raise them. What the hens eat is what they lay. More nutritious the diet, darker is the colour of the yolk. At the end of the day, the way you prepare the egg will make all the difference. So making a delicious omelette with a pale yellow egg yolk might get lauded more than making a disastrous omelette with a dark orange yolk.

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