the orange pigment in carrots and other plant
foods, but from plant pigments called
xanthophylls (p. 267), which the hen obtains
mainly from alfalfa and corn feeds. Producers
may supplement the feeds with marigold
petals and other additives to deepen the color.
Duck yolks owe their deeper orange color
both to beta-carotene and to the reddish
pigment canthaxanthin, which wild ducks
obtain from small water insects and
crustaceans, egg-laying ducks from feed
supplements. One minor component of the
yolk that can cause a major culinary disaster
is the starch-digesting enzyme amylase, which
has liquefied many a normal-looking pie
filling from within (see p. 98).
Spheres Within Spheres That’s a yolk by
numbers and nutrients. But there’s a lot more
to this concentrated pool of the sun’s rays. Its
structure is intricate, much like a Chinese set
of nested spheres carved from a single block