Not all chicken yolks are the same. Some are pale yellow – while others are so orange that they are almost red.
But what does it mean? Are egg yolks like lettuce, where the darker color indicates more nutrients?
Fox News Digital spoke to egg experts to break the case.
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Chicken yolk color, cookbook author and backyard chicken expert Lisa Steele told Fox News Digital, “depends entirely on the hen’s diet.”
Steele, who lives in Maine, is the creator of Fresh Eggs Daily, a website about raising chickens. He is also the author of “The Fresh Eggs Daily Cookbook.”
Chicken egg yolks come in a variety of colors, from pale yellow to dark orange. (Stock)
“Foods that are high in xanthophyll and carotene, which are pigments called carotenoids, will make egg yolks darker orange,” she said.
Carotene is found in orange-colored foods, he said, such as carrots, mangoes, cantaloupe and pumpkins.
Xanthophyll can be found in green leafy vegetables, such as spinach and kale.
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But while a dark egg yolk doesn’t mean the hen is eating nutritious, organic or fresh food, “it’s probably going to be related, since pigmented food is full of other nutrients,” he said.
However, feed companies and commercial egg farms have found workarounds to make a dark egg yolk without this nutrient, Steele said.
The color of the egg yolk depends entirely on the hen’s diet, said the expert. Foods high in carotenes and xanthophylls will produce a darker yolk. (Stock)
These companies are “smart and realized that consumers want to see that bright orange yolk, so they will include things like marigold, paprika, sea kelp, corn. [and] alfalfa to ‘artificially’ increase the color of the yolk,” he said.
To ensure the most nutritious eggs possible, Steele suggests that customers look for specific labels on grocery store cartons.
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“Pasture-raised” or “free-range” chickens will generally lay eggs with a more orange-colored yolk, Steele says, “because their diet consists of grass, weeds and other plants.”
It’s important to note that “cage-free” and “pasture-raised” are not the same thing, he said.
Free-range chickens usually eat a variety of foods, which produce a darker egg yolk, the expert said. (Stock)
Pasture-raised eggs are “the gold standard,” Steele told Fox News Digital, noting that some “cage-free” chickens may be living out their lives in a warehouse.
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Eggs from pasture-raised chickens have less cholesterol and more nutrients, Steele says, thanks to a healthy, varied diet.
Yolks aren’t the only things that come in different colors.
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The shells are also different.
Unlike the yolk, the color of the shell 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 is “totally based on the type of chicken,” Steele said.
“Some chickens have brown dye, some have blue dye and some don’t.”
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And that’s not the yolk.
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