Unlike commercially produced, processed foods and beverages, eggs can vary widely in appearance and composition. They come from a chicken, not a factory, which means these variations are to be expected not only from chicken to chicken but also from egg to egg. I once bought a carton of eggs that had 11 double yolks. (I thought I was a witch, but luckily, that’s no longer frowned upon.) Eggs are a game of chance, I say, but variations in appearance can be terrifying.
My parents recently got some chickens (they came to the country with their new house) which was great because I only had to buy eggs once in the past six months. Fresh eggs, bought straight from the chicken (or bought at the farmers market), can have even more variations than those available at the grocery store. Sometimes the shell is wrinkled, sometimes the egg is quite small, and sometimes the egg white is cloudy.
If you’re used to seeing perfectly translucent egg whites, cloudy egg whites can be scary, but there is nothing to worry about. In fact, it’s a reason to celebrate. A cloudy white is a sign that your egg is super fresh. This cloudiness is due to dissolved carbon dioxide that has had no chance of escaping through the shell and it won’t affect the taste of your egg in any way.
However, a pink white is not something you want to eat. According to the USDA, a pink tint or a pearly white “indicates spoilage by Pseudomonas bacteria”. This is different from a blood stain in the yolk, which is caused by “rupturing one or more small blood vessels in the yolk at ovulation” but which is still perfectly safe to eat. (If you’re excited at the sight of blood, just mix it up.)
G / O Media can receive a commission
