One of our readers asks, “I was wondering if you’ve come across a good explanation of why chicken eggs come in different colors, i.e. white and brown? Brown ones are sold as being ‘more natural’ but I don’t know if that’s hype or not.”
Butter Bitch tells me, “Brown eggs just come from different chickens. Duck eggs are green.” And then she goes to bed.
I check The American Egg Board, which confirms that there is no nutritional difference between white eggs and brown eggs. Other online resources agree. The AEB’s goal is to promote eggs through information and occasional egg puns. They note that the chickens that lay brown eggs are slightly larger and require more food than chickens that lay white eggs, resulting in slightly higher costs. (I do not find nutritional information on duck eggs, but they are green.)
Michael Pollan mentions in The Omnivore’s Dilemma the 60s idea that all things brown were better (brown bread instead of white bread, brown sugar instead of white sugar, etc.) and points to this political stance as the origin of the brown egg bias. The real difference in eggs is the way the hens are treated and fed–free range, yard raised, factory farmed, conventionally fed, organically fed. Eggs marked as being high in Omega-3 fatty acids are from chickens that have been fed a special diet of polyunsaturated fats and kelp meal.
Brown eggs are not new in this country. University of Illinois Extension gives a history of several chicken breeds including the brown egg laying Plymouth Rock, which dates to 19th Century New England.
When buying eggs, the important thing to remember (after local and organic) is that the fresher the eggs the thicker the whites and their yolks, regardless of the color of their shells.
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June 1st, 2006 at 8:38 am
Thanks for the research! S and I had speculated that it might have something to do with diet. A bit of further reading revealed that generally speaking, white chickens lay white eggs, and brown chickens lay brown eggs. One site I read stated that the real way to tell was to inspect the chicken’s earlobe! White lobed chickens lay white eggs, red-lobed chickens lay brown (with one exception, Araucana lay blue and green shelled eggs).
June 1st, 2006 at 10:34 am
As NPR noted after being corrected by a seven-year old, chickens of all different colors lay white eggs. Apparently, lobe isn’t a reliable indicator, and chickens lay green and blue eggs as well (”tint” on some egg websites).
June 1st, 2006 at 1:37 pm
Huh. I found that lobe thing all over the place.
Ahh well. The reliability of the internet takes another blow.
I’m interested in hearing about how the stock turns out. Were you going to make a “white” or “brown” stock? Interesting that we should continue on the white vs. brown theme.
I find brown chicken stock more widely applicable, and I like the taste better; the difference really is if you roast the carcass first or not. Even though you’ve already cooked it, roasting the bones for a while will bring out more of the flavor. I’m not exactly sure why, perhaps it does something to the marrow, but it makes a difference.
June 1st, 2006 at 4:37 pm
I’ve never heard of a difference between “white” or “brown” stock. I was taught to boil the bones and some meat to extract as much flavor as possible. Ah, I see–the difference is in using the bones, and I would know this if I’d started reading my saucier’s book.
Given the weather (rain), I expect to make stock this weekend. I’ll write about stock soon.
June 2nd, 2006 at 10:53 am
The difference is that a white stock (not just for chicken, but really for anything) has the ingredients browned or roasted first. It intensifies the flavor, makes it rich, and gives the stock a brown color.
White stock is done without browning or roasting. Julia Child says that for chicken, you should brown it in a skillet, because roasting chicken bones and meat tends to burn them.
I think you’d use the bones either way. It’s the stuff in the bones that makes a good stock (gelatin?). I suppose, that since you’ve already roasted the chicken, you’d be making a brown stock no matter what, but you could probably even brown it some more. I’ve also recently discovered that if you put in onions, with the skin on, you get a really nice brown color.
I’m planning on making stock this weekend too; I’m going to try to make a bunch and freeze it for later use. I’m excited.
October 12th, 2007 at 10:23 am
Some ducks lay brown eggs. Ear lobes are excellent indicators of white egg layers. Some chickens lay green eggs and some lay blue egg based on genetics. A green egg is from a chicken with blue and brown genes and a blue egg is from having double blue genes or one blue and one white. White eggs come from having 2 white genes, it is the recessive of the dominant blue gene. Chickens will always lay the color of egg they lay. It has nothing to do with feed but rather what they deposite on the the egg. The reasome white egg layers exist is because they are from birds that long ago laid eggs in the white andlight colored sand - the darker eggs didn’t survive due to predators and the evolution of the white egg layers created more white egg layers. The same is true for brown and green/blue egg layers. They laid in the dead brush, holes and dirt, while green/blue layers laided in grass and bushes. I do not believe “JC Costello aka Man of La Muncha” did any research as what he mentioned is not completely accurate or really that hard to figure out - let along research.