Valley Bounty: Eggs

The edible portion of a chicken egg has two main components: the “white” (also called the “albumen”) and the yolk. In a fertilized egg, the yolk serves as the primary food source for the developing embryo and is suspended in the egg white, which protects and supports the yolk and the embryo, by two spiral bands of tissue called the chalazae. The yolk is the source of nearly all the egg’s vitamins, minerals, and fats, as well as about half of its protein (remember, they are intended to be the sole food source for a developing embryo)—hence my dismissal of the idea that egg whites are the “healthy” part of the egg. The color of the egg yolk is determined in large part by the diet of the chicken; a darker-colored yolk can be an indicator of greater nutrient density, but that is not a guaranteed correlation as is often believed. If you want to know what the chickens who laid your eggs have been eating, you should ask the farmer who raised them.

You all know how to cook eggs already, it’s the first recipe everybody learns. I will say, though, if you’ve never tried poaching an egg yourself, you’re missing out—there are dozens of great videos online that show how much easier it is to do than it seems.

Valley Bounty is written by Brian Snell of CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture)