The White
Next to the yolk’s riches, the white seems
colorless and bland. It accounts for nearly two
thirds of the egg’s shelled weight, but nearly
90% of that is water. The rest is protein, with
only traces of minerals, fatty material,
vitamins (riboflavin gives the raw white a
slightly yellow-green cast) and glucose. The
quarter-gram of glucose, which is essential for
the embryo’s early growth, isn’t enough to
sweeten the white, though in such
preparations as long-cooked eggs (p. 89) and
thousand-year preserved eggs (p. 116) it’s
sufficient to turn the white a dramatic brown.
The white’s structural interest is limited to the
fact that it comes in two consistencies, thick
and thin, with the yolk cords being a twisted
version of the thick.
Protective Proteins Pale though it is, the egg
white has surprising depths. Of course it
supplies the developing embryo with essential