Not all chicken yolks look the same. Some are pale yellow, some are orange, almost red.
But what does this mean? Are egg yolks like lettuce, where darker color means more nutrients?
Fox News Digital spoke with an egg expert to crack the case.
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Cookbook author and backyard chicken expert Lisa Steele told Fox News Digital that the color of the egg yolk “all depends on the hen’s diet.”
Steele lives in Maine and is the founder of Fresh Eggs Daily, a website about raising chickens. She is also the author of The Daily Fresh Egg Recipe.
Egg yolks come in a variety of colors, from light yellow to deep orange. (iStock)
“Foods high in lutein and carotene, which are basically pigments called carotenoids, make for delicious deep orange yolks,” she says.
She said orange foods contain carotene, such as carrots, mangoes, cantaloupe and pumpkins.
Lutein is found in leafy green vegetables like spinach and kale.
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But while a darker yolk doesn’t mean the chickens are eating a nutritious, organic or fresh diet, “it may be relevant because foods containing pigments are also rich in other nutrients,” she said.
Even so, feed companies and commercial egg farms have found ways to produce darker yolks without using these nutrient-rich foods, Steele said.
Experts say the color of the yolk depends entirely on the hen’s diet. Diets containing more carotenes and lutein produce darker egg yolks. (iStock)
These companies “were smart enough to realize that consumers wanted to see bright orange yolks, so they added things like marigold, chili powder, kelp, corn, etc. [and] Alfalfa ‘artificially’ enhances the color of egg yolks,” she said.
To ensure eggs are as nutritious as possible, Steele recommends customers look for certain labels on cartons at the grocery store.
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Steele said “pasture-raised” or “free-range” chickens typically lay eggs with darker, more orange yolks “because their diet consists primarily of grasses, weeds and other plants.”
She said it’s important to note that “free range” and “pasture raised” are not the same thing.
Chickens that have access to the outdoors tend to have more varied diets and produce darker egg yolks, one expert says. (iStock)
Steele told Fox News Digital that pasture-raised eggs are the “gold standard,” noting that some “free-range” chickens may still spend their lives in warehouses.
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Steele said eggs from pasture-raised chickens have lower cholesterol and more nutrients because they eat a healthier, more varied diet.
Egg yolks aren’t the only things that come in different colors.
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The shells also vary.
Unlike the yolk, the color of the eggshell has nothing to do with the egg’s nutritional value, Steele said.
The color of the eggshell has nothing to do with the nutritional value of the egg. (Yulii Zozulia/Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
The color “depends entirely on the breed of chicken,” Steele said.
“Some hens have brown dye, some hens have blue dye, and some don’t.”
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That’s not egg yolk.
