Who doesn’t like eggs? Home cooks post long-awaited Boomerangs to celebrate slicing into their first perfect poach. Whole 30 devotees binge on paleo-friendly deviled eggs. Michelin-starred chefs top silky French-style scrambles with caviar and fresh chives. In 2014, Michael Ruhlman waxed rhapsodic about the humble egg for 256 pages in his cleverly titled book Egg.
You know how you like your eggs. But here are eight things you may not know about this all-day culinary superstar.
1. Americans eat a LOT of eggs.
American egg consumption reached an estimated 275 per capita in 2017, an average of more than five per person every week. (Considering all the different ways you can prepare eggs, not to mention their many uses in baking and other recipes, it’s no surprise that the number adds up quickly.)
2. They’re basically the perfect food.
It’s hard to imagine we ever thought eggs were anything but nutritional powerhouses (we see you, 1980s cholesterol scare). These little orbs are packed with 6 grams of protein (3 grams in the white, 3 grams in the yolk), lutein, and zeaxanthin for sharp eyesight, choline for memory longevity, and healthy unsaturated fats like omega-3 fatty acids for a tip-top ticker.
And a single egg (like the free-range variety from Nellie's Eggs) has just 70 calories, meaning you reap the benefits without risking a belly bulge.
3. Hens lay hundreds of eggs a year.
Hens’ reproductive cycles last around one day, meaning they lay about one egg per 24-hour period. The average hen will lay more than 500 eggs in a lifetime, most of them during a busy two-year period in her fertility prime.
But there are miracle babies: A 17-year-old British hen named Victoria surprised her owner in 2013 by laying two perfect eggs — for the first time since Y2K!
4. Americans refrigerate eggs — but other countries don’t.
Outside the United States, eggs are stored at room temperature. So why do we Americans sock them away in the refrigerator? Because the FDA mandates that all large-scale egg producers wash their eggs before selling them to reduce the risk of salmonella contamination.
However, washing eggs also rinses away the thin cuticle that protects them from other other bacteria seeping into the shell. So American eggs must remain refrigerated afterward to ensure freshness. (In Britain and the European Union, it’s actually illegal to wash eggs.)
The good news: Once you get your eggs home from the supermarket, they’ll keep in the refrigerator for up to a month.
5. Yolk color is all about diet.
The color of your egg yolk is determined by the diet of the hen that laid it. Yolks can range in color from pale yellow to deep orange, depending on the diet of the hen that laid it. Hens that eat xanthophyll-rich feed have the most intense color. Diets rich in yellow corn or alfalfa meal yield medium-yellow yolks, and hens on diets containing mostly wheat or barley produce eggs with pale yolks.
6. Eggs match their hens.
The color of your eggs’ shells is determined by the breed of hen that produced it. White eggs are laid by breeds like Leghorns, while brown eggs come from breeds like Orpingtons. There’s even a breed of chicken called an Olive Egger that lays — you guessed it — olive-colored eggs.
7. Life finds a way.
Ever encountered an egg with two yolks in your carton? Lucky you! “Double-yolkers” are created when a hen (usually a younger pullet) ovulates twice in quick succession, and there’s only a 1 in 1,000 chance of finding one. You might even find more than two yolks — the record is nine in a single shell.
Some believe double-yolkers are an omen of fertility. We just know they make for an extra-tasty brunchy benny.
8. … but not that kind of life.
No, you’re never going to crack an egg and hatch a live one. In order for a yolk to become a chick, the egg has to be fertilized by a rooster. The eggs you find in the grocery store haven’t seen any funny business — so the only thing you’ll find when you split that shell is a clear white and that sunny yellow yolk. Promise.
Follow Delish on Instagram.
