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Why are some egg yolks so orange?

foodunfolded.com

201–210 of 267 posts

Re: Why are some egg yolks so orange?

#201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some french tv channel did a quick game test, asking a bunch of students to sip colored soda and guess the flavour. Green was mint, Red was strawberry, Yellow was citrus, they were all strawberry. Surprising "reality".

The same thing is true about red and white wine. Color it all red and no one can tell the difference.

I'm sorry, but that just isn't true. No doubt some wines cross over, but the tannins present in much red wine are notable by their absence from pretty much all white wine.

Re: Why are some egg yolks so orange?

#202
post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And yet none of those examples compare to consciously using known poisons as a replacement for or additive to real food. That’s cynical brutality on another level.

How about preserving milk with formaldehyde? https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/poison-squ... https://allthatsinteresting.com/poison-squad-harvey-wiley One of the tricks here is that "known" poisons are the same as "agreed-upon" poisons -- or that the definition of "poison" isn't as clear as you might assume. If one compares the US/Canada and EU restrictions of additives with the assumption that the la…

> formaldehyde

As a metabolic intermediate, formaldehyde is present at low levels in most living organisms. Formaldehyde can be found naturally in food up to the levels of 300 to 400 mg/kg, including fruits and vegetables (e.g. pear, apple, green onion), meats, fish, crustacean and dried mushroom, etc.

Ingestion of a small amount of formaldehyde is unlikely to cause any acute effect. The main health concern of formaldehyde is its cancer causing potential. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) considered that there was sufficient evidence for carcinogenicity in humans upon occupational exposure via inhalation. On the other hand, WHO in 2005 when setting its Drinking Water Guidelines considered that there was no definitive evidence for carcinogenicity upon ingestion.

Re: Why are some egg yolks so orange?

#203
post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same thing is true about red and white wine. Color it all red and no one can tell the difference.

I'm sorry, but that just isn't true. No doubt some wines cross over, but the tannins present in much red wine are notable by their absence from pretty much all white wine.

Yes, this. Red and white don't taste that similar to me.

My nose isn't great, especially compared to my wife's, but I could tell you 100% of the time if I was tasting red or white while blindfolded.

Re: Why are some egg yolks so orange?

#204
post #143
post #17

J. Kenji López-Alt has a bit in his Food Lab book where he explores the effect of yolk colour on taste. Paraphrasing, the takeaway is that people generally perceive redder/deeper yolks as more flavoursome, but if you remove this factor (with food colouring, say), then people can't tell the difference. He summarises this in a twitter thread: [1] [1]: https://nitter.net/kenjilopezalt/status/1176542696724320256

Reminds me of the studies which show that wine connoisseurs are describing the colour, not the taste, of the wine. I've always found this highly suspect because I guarantee anyone who drinks wine regularly could fairly accurately judge what price bracket a wine came from, at least within a factor of 2-3. You could mistake a $10 wine for a $15 wine or vice versa but a $50 wine is noticeably different.

I have had some excellent $10 bottles of wine which hold their own against the $50 bottles.

Re: Why are some egg yolks so orange?

#205
post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry, but that just isn't true. No doubt some wines cross over, but the tannins present in much red wine are notable by their absence from pretty much all white wine.

Yes, this. Red and white don't taste that similar to me. My nose isn't great, especially compared to my wife's, but I could tell you 100% of the time if I was tasting red or white while blindfolded.

Would you be able to tell if you weren't blindfolded and it was white wine that had food colouring added to it so that it appeared as red?

Would your sense of taste overpower what your eyes were telling you?

Re: Why are some egg yolks so orange?

#206

I'm a sucker for premium orange yolk eggs. My partner is sucker for buying eggs from a guy who grows them in his backyard. Sometimes, especially when making creamy scrambled eggs I can almost taste fishy or shellfish flavour (not something I like). We are based in NZ and I've heard people use sea shells as a source of calcium for hens, but I find hard to believe that it could be it.

The "fishy" taste is likely indicative of a higher omega 3 content, you get the same taste from 100% grass fed and finished beef and buffalo due to the higher omega 3 content.

> 100% grass fed and finished beef

I am not sure this is true. I live in a country (NZ) where most cattle are grass fed their entire lives. This is supposed to mean higher omega 3 content but I have never tasted a fishy taste. Not even once.

If grass fed and fishy taste are corrolated, I suspect there is another cause. Maybe organic fish containing grass fertiliser?

Re: Why are some egg yolks so orange?

#207
post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about preserving milk with formaldehyde? https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/poison-squ... https://allthatsinteresting.com/poison-squad-harvey-wiley One of the tricks here is that "known" poisons are the same as "agreed-upon" poisons -- or that the definition of "poison" isn't as clear as you might assume. If one compares the US/Canada and EU restrictions of additives with the assumption that the la…

> formaldehyde As a metabolic intermediate, formaldehyde is present at low levels in most living organisms. Formaldehyde can be found naturally in food up to the levels of 300 to 400 mg/kg, including fruits and vegetables (e.g. pear, apple, green onion), meats, fish, crustacean and dried mushroom, etc. Ingestion of a small amount of formaldehyde is unlikely to cause any acute effect. The main health concern of formal…

Well, sure. Here's the thing: with anything, the dose makes the poison -- and "low levels" and "small amount" are pretty important phrases in those claims, right? (https://wwwn.cdc.gov/TSP/MMG/MMGDetails.aspx?mmgid=216&toxid...) People aren't talking about the amounts in apples when they're referring to e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Indonesia_food_scare

Re: Why are some egg yolks so orange?

#208

I got five chickens last year and now have more eggs then I know what to do with (so we give a lot away). Everyone that has them says they are so much better and I have wondered if that is just due to them being able to see the chickens and their home. It is near impossible to hard boil the eggs they lay because the “membrane” (layer between the shell and egg-stuff) is so thick. The yolk is a darker yellow as well. I…

Kenji covered hard boiling eggs with scientific rigor: https://www.seriouseats.com/the-secrets-to-peeling-hard-boil... We have backyard chickens and hard-boil a lot of eggs. The biggest effect on peel-ability: Start with boiling water, do not start the eggs in cold water. For years I started with cold water because that's what Alton Brown said to do in Good Eats. And for years the eggs were a pain to peel. When I rea…

This is interesting to me because pressure cooker eggs start cold but after a few dozen batches, fresh eggs or old, I’ve never had a batch that was hard to peel. I do ice bath them though.

Re: Why are some egg yolks so orange?

#209
post #17

J. Kenji López-Alt has a bit in his Food Lab book where he explores the effect of yolk colour on taste. Paraphrasing, the takeaway is that people generally perceive redder/deeper yolks as more flavoursome, but if you remove this factor (with food colouring, say), then people can't tell the difference. He summarises this in a twitter thread: [1] [1]: https://nitter.net/kenjilopezalt/status/1176542696724320256

Some french tv channel did a quick game test, asking a bunch of students to sip colored soda and guess the flavour. Green was mint, Red was strawberry, Yellow was citrus, they were all strawberry. Surprising "reality".

We did an experiment in class, where we drank sodas blindfolded. Not only did we fail to distinguish Coke Cola and Pepsi, we couldn't even tell sprite from coke!

I would have never believed that they taste so incredibly similar without the experiment.

Re: Why are some egg yolks so orange?

#210
post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That could become a health issue if this is longterm.

If you have a reason to think eggs are unhealthy, state the reason so that there can be a discussion. Eggs are as close to a miracle food that I know, and I think it would be a shame to discourage their consumption.

The USDA prohibits eggs from being called safe or nutritious because of their cholesterol and saturated fat content.

Video and transcript expanding on this available at https://nutritionfacts.org/video/who-says-eggs-arent-healthy....

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