Things You (Probably) Didn't Know About Eggs
To put it simply: There is nothing quite like the incredible, edible egg! Eggs are surrounded by more symbolism, myths, and old wives’ tales than any other everyday food. Here are some surprising facts about eggs.
Egg Symbolism
Eggs play a symbolic role in many cultures and religions. Their oval shape symbolizes fertility, eternity, and the circle of life with neither beginning nor end. In the Egyptian myth of Creation, eggs were linked to the creation of the universe, suggesting that the Earth itself may have been born out of an egg. The new life that lies dormant in the egg came to be associated with life energy.
Of course, the egg is part of the Easter celebration and associated with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Eggs also take on an important role in the Jewish Passover holiday as a symbol of sacrifice and loss. See our page All About Easter!
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Intriguing Egg Facts
Opportunities, like eggs, come one at a time.
- The entire yolk of an egg is only one cell, one of nature’s largest! An ostrich egg, which can serve about 24 for breakfast, is probably the largest cell nature manufactures (currently, that is).
- The color of the shell is strictly a function of the breed of the bird. You can (usually) tell what color egg a chicken will lay by looking at the color of her earlobe. Hens with white ears produce white eggs, hens with red ears produce brown eggs, and hens with bluish-green ears produce bluish-green eggs! Find out more about different chicken breeds and the eggs they produce.
- Americans consume an average of 281 eggs annually, which keeps about 285 million hens busy day and night. If you’d like to keep your own hens busy, check out our Raising Chickens blog.
- An old-fashioned but valid test for egg freshness is accomplished by gently dropping a whole uncooked egg into a salt solution (two tablespoons salt in two cups of water.) If very fresh, the egg will be full and heavy, and it will sink and tip to one side. If moderately fresh, it will remain suspended in the middle of the water upright; if it bobs up to the top, it is stale.
- According to folklore, you can stand a raw egg on end on the spring equinox (or fall equinox). Let us know if it works for you!
- Government grades are based on the size of the air cell in the egg, its quality, and its freshness. A Grade AA egg must be less than ten days old from packing, and a Grade A, 30 days.
- The whitish, twisted material seen near the raw egg yolk is thick albumen. It is part of a layer of dense egg white surrounding the entire yolk. The albumen helps keep the yolk centered in the egg. It is especially prominent in fresh, high-quality eggs.
- The feed determines the color of the yolk. If the chicken eats grass, yellow corn, or other feedstuffs rich in yellow pigments, the yolk will be deep yellow in direct relation to the amount of yellow in the feed, regardless of the breed of chicken or the color of the shell.
- The incubation period of a chicken egg is 21 days.
- Shortly after an egg is laid, it is placed in front of a light source that reveals the condition of the innards. This process, called candling, can detect cracks in the shell or harmless but unappetizing blood spots on the yolk. It also reveals the size of the egg’s air cell: the smaller the cell, the better the egg.
- Old wives’ tales suggest that the shape of an egg indicates the sex of the chick that will hatch from it. Unfortunately, there is no truth to this myth. Scientists are unable to distinguish between the sexes before the eggs hatch.
- The greenish-gray color around the yolk of a hard-boiled egg is a harmless compound of iron and sulfur called ferrous sulfide, which forms when an egg is heated. To prevent its formation, boil the egg only as long as necessary to set the yolk, plunge it into cold water, and peel it promptly.
- While brown, white, and green eggs are essentially the same in nutritional value, there are definite preferences by individuals and by people in different regions of the country.
Now, here’s an age-old question: Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
No one knows the answer, but we’re going to go with the egg. When a mutation or new species is created, it comes from two different parents. Think of how dogs are bred. It’s most likely that two birds who were similar to chickens (but not chickens as we know them today) mated, and out came an egg that turned into a chicken! What’s your theory?
Learn even more about eggs and eggshells and their various uses here.
Catherine Boeckmann
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I raise chickens and ducks. I would recommend this to anyone who wants top quality and the healthiest eggs. Although I get many people who only want certain colored eggs, I cannot discern a difference in chicken eggs based on color, but can definitely taste the difference between home raised chicken's eggs and those purchased in the store. I love fresh eggs.
Now ducks eggs are a little different. If you dearly love the taste of eggs, you may go gaga for duck eggs. Imagine a chicken egg, but twice as much flavor. And if you bake, duck eggs are the way to go. They are a much richer egg with a higher content of fat. They will make your cakes more rich and moist.
I am no doctor, but we provide eggs to one lady on dialysis. She wants her eggs fresh, never refrigerated, and mostly the duck eggs. She eats a dozen a day. She eats them for the protein and has no problems with cholesterol. Her kidney doctor asks her where she gets her duck eggs and she will only respond, "get your own supplier".
If you want to eat healthy and can do so, consider raising your own chickens. You can learn all you need to know about it from the Farmer's ÃÛÌÒÁµÈË.
I always liked farm fresh, organic eggs, especially brown shelled. Don't know why. Just like the brown shells...
Very interesting article; Thanks! I prefer brown eggs. They look more "real" !
It's true one can stand an egg on its end during a solstice but then again, you can stand an egg on its end any day of the year!
This is true. It is fun to do with kids and adults alike. They do stand up on end. Sometimes tricky to do, however, they will stand.
Aren't they just a chicken's period? And where do all the male chickens go when they are hatched?
Commercially hatched male chicks are not useful or productive to the industry. They have conveyor belts that lead to very large grinders that the male chicks are poured into, ground alive soon after hatching and being sexed.
That is so horrible. What happens to the ground chickens.I have considered becoming a vegetarian. I love chicken but killing baby chicks is euthanasia and enough to push me in that direction.
Back in the 60's and 70's my family kept a small flock in the backyard of our house in Brooklyn. Maybe a dozen birds, if that. You could get away with a lot in Brooklyn back then. LOL One day my folks came home from a visit upstate with a crate of 6 white hens. They had stopped at a farm to get fresh produce and in talking to the farmer got on the subject of chickens. When my dad mentioned that we had some back home, the farmer mentioned that he had some old layers that weren't doing their business anymore; maybe one or two eggs a week at best. He said that they were scheduled to go to the great chicken coop in the sky. One thing lead to another and my dad ended up buying the hens for 50 cents or a buck each. He figured that if they didn't lay we could always make soup. Those poor hens looked miserable; skinny, clipped beaks, feathers missing, I swear that some of the poor things had a nervous twitch. Dad threw them in with the other hens and roosters and basically kissed it up to god. After a few days those old hens began to settle in and actually started to put on weight and lay. Within a couple of months we were getting 4 or 5 eggs a week out of those old birds! Better than 2 dozen eggs from $3 - $6 worth of throw away hens. Not bad! Shows you what a little tender loving care, good food and fresh air (our birds were all free-range even though we didn't know to call it that 50 years ago, just the right way to keep chickens) will do for a bird.
A large egg to avoid sulpher ring around yolk when boiling. Place eggs in pot with water to cover, put on stove med. high heat, when start boiling 10 minutes remove from heat, drain, immediately put into ice water. add 1 minute for X large and minus 1 min for med.
