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Not all chicken yolks look the same. Some are pale yellow, some are orange, almost red.
But what does this mean? yes yolk Like lettuce, 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 “Fresh Egg Daily Recipe”.
Egg yolks come in a variety of colors, from light yellow to deep orange. (iStock)
“Foods rich in lutein and carotene, which are basically pigments called carotenoids, can darken colors orange yolk,” she said.
Carotenes are found in orange foods such as carrots, mangoes, cantaloupes and pumpkins, she said.
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 that contain pigments are also rich in other nutrients,” she said.
Even so, feed companies and commercial egg farms have found workarounds to produce darker yolks without these. nutritious foodSteele said.
Experts say the color of the yolk depends entirely on the hen’s diet. Diets containing more carotenes and lutein produce darker yolks. (iStock)
She said the companies “were smart enough to realize that consumers wanted to see bright orange yolks, so they would ‘artificially’ enhance the color of the yolks by adding things like marigold, paprika, kelp, corn (and) alfalfa.”
To ensure most nutritious Steele advises customers to look for certain labels on cartons at grocery stores.
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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.”
It’s important to note, she said, 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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eggs come from pasture raised chicken Because they eat a healthier, more varied diet, they have less cholesterol and more nutrients, Steele said.
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.
