The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science

(Nandana) #1

from 100-percent free-roaming, pasture-raised chickens. All
of the eggs were served scrambled. The results? Indeed the
pastured eggs and omega-3–enriched eggs fared better than
the standard supermarket eggs. But I also noticed another
correlation: the color of the eggs varied quite a bit, with the
pastured eggs on the more intensely orange end of the
spectrum. And the more omega-3s the eggs contained, the
deeper orange the yolk. The plain organic eggs and standard
factory eggs were the palest of the lot. This difference in
pigmentation can be attributed to the varying diets of the
chickens. Pastured hens eat bugs and flowers, both of which
contribute color to yolks. Chickens bred for eggs with high
omega-3 acids are fed with a diet enriched with flaxseeds
and sea kelp, which contribute color. Chickens that lay these
more expensive eggs are also sometimes fed pigmented
supplements, like marigold leaves, that make their yolks
nice and bright. Could it be that the flavor differences tasters
were reporting had more to do with their reaction to the
color than to the actual flavor of the egg?

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