Who spray-tanned my eggs?

[Jenise]

So yesterday I bought a dozen eggs. Lovely, uniform rich brown color. I was going to hard-boil the lot, but before leaving for the store I refreshed my thinking on the best way to cook super fresh eggs for best peeling, since I almost never do that to just-bought, by going to the internet.

Which convinced me to try adding vinegar to the cooking water. Which I did. And mid-way through the nine minute cook I noticed something strange and ugly about the water. There were streaky dark red loogies sticking to the eggs and swirling in the water, like I'd tried to do a marble-ized Easter egg dye with blood.

Apparently these lovely eggs' natural color was a drab shade of beige-pink and they'd been spray-tanned for an even, richer look. And the vinegar melted off the paint.

I will say, though, that they peeled like a dream, especially under running warm water. Best ever.

Oranges, lemons, and limes have been spray-painted for decades, but this is the first I've heard of it being done to eggs.

-Paul W.

Gotta give the producer a standing ov-ation for effort but I wonder who they were trying to fool - the grocery chain or the eventual user or both.

[Jenise]

Gotta give the producer a standing ov-ation for effort but I wonder who they were trying to fool - the grocery chain or the eventual user or both.

The buyer, for sure. And this is a big brand in this area, Wilcox. Biggest name brand in fact, cage-free and all that.

[Robin Garr]

Gotta give the producer a standing ov-ation for effort but I wonder who they were trying to fool - the grocery chain or the eventual user or both.

The buyer, for sure. And this is a big brand in this area, Wilcox. Biggest name brand in fact, cage-free and all that.

"Biggest name" is probably the giveaway. You can have artisanal and organic pastured eggs, or you can be big. You probably can't be both.

https://healthybuddha.in/blog/magazine- ... %20removed.

The chicken dyes the egg

Thanks, Dale. I was wondering if that might be the case. Some years ago here in New England, there was a big media campaign by local egg producers with the slogan, "brown eggs are local eggs".

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

https://healthybuddha.in/blog/magazine-blog/why-do-brown-eggs-cometimes-loose-colour#:~:text=In%20some%20of%20the%20eggs,the%20color%20to%20be%20removed.

The chicken dyes the egg

I generally buy farm eggs. When I'm stuck with store eggs, I usually buy brown though there's no difference that I can tell--though this time I wanted to buy the same ones that three weeks ago had a very bright red yolk.

Brown farm eggs will typically be as many different shades of brown and pink as there are eggs in the carton. When boiled in plain water, sometimes a very minor lightening in color occurs. Whereas the store-bought brown eggs here are a uniformly rich chestnut color--every egg identical. Even accepting the explanation in the link, are you going to tell me that chickens can achieve perfectly uniform color? No chickens I know can.

What happened yesterday wasn't just fading. And the difference wasn't just one or four or six shades lighter. They went from dark to light. And there was a lot of residue in the cooking water--like bloody snot.

Next time I get some brown farm eggs, I'll try vinegar-boiling a few to see if they slough residue. Otherwise, I'm not convinced this isn't spray tan.

That sounds really weird
. I can’t imagine it would be legal to do that. If it then it must be listed on the package, have you checked the ingredient list?

We mostly buy at farmers markets, some gifts with friends with chickens, if not supermarket carries local (well CT) antibiotic free eggs. We mostly get brown, whites from one set of friends, one farmer has blueish green ones (from a particularly beautiful breed).

I just looked at farm eggs and Farmers Cow (CT co-opish). Pretty uniform. I guess it's possible that they are all dyed, but as all of these farms are open to UEP and USDA inspection, you'd think if brown eggs were dyed that word would get out. I struggle to see where a producer would find it profitable to go to all the extra expense of dyeing.

That sounds really weird
. I can’t imagine it would be legal to do that. If it then it must be listed on the package, have you checked the ingredient list?

The article that Dale pointed to says that the various shades of brown in the eggshell come naturally from the hen who laid them. Sometimes the brown color comes off in boiling water, especially in the presence of vinegar. So apparently no artificial coloration here.

That's not the case with oranges and other citrus. If you visit orchards in Florida, you can get marvelously delicious oranges picked fresh off the tree. They usually have unevenly colored peels and are pretty ugly compared to the perfect, evenly orange specimens one gets in the supermarket. Supermarket oranges are dyed to achieve that uniform color.

My mother lived in Florida for a few years while my dad was in the Navy. One thing she missed when the family moved back to Connecticut was the tasty--if ugly--oranges. We were in the supermarket one day and walked past a bin of ugly, irregularly colored oranges. Most shoppers were giving them the evil eye, but my mother exclaimed, "OMG! Real oranges!!" and bought a bunch of them. They were delicious.

AFAIK, there are no labeling requirements for citrus fruit that has been spray-painted in this way. Eggs are regulated by a different agency and likely have very different labeling rules.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

That sounds really weird
. I can’t imagine it would be legal to do that. If it then it must be listed on the package, have you checked the ingredient list?

There is no ingredients list on a carton of eggs.

That sounds really weird
. I can’t imagine it would be legal to do that. If it then it must be listed on the package, have you checked the ingredient list?

There is no ingredients list on a carton of eggs.

I'm sure you'll find "eggs" somewhere on the carton.

AFAIK, there are no labeling requirements for citrus fruit that has been spray-painted in this way.

Apparently, there is such a requirement!: https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/search-fda-guidance-documents/cpg-sec-550625-oranges-artificial-coloring

For the record, I have never seen such a sign in a shop in NYC. (And, no, I wouldn't bet a plugged nickel that that betokens widespread compliance.)

I have also read that the need to dye (or gas) is dependent on both the cultivar -- some retain their chlorophyll better than others -- and the when/where of origin -- hotter climes and hotter times of year encourage the retention of chlorophyll. So, not only is there dyeing and gassing to set color but a quick chill is also sometimes used to destroy chlorophyll-bearing cells.

There also appears to be a cultural preference at play, at least regarding the color of limes. I have some Chinese cookbooks published in China that have photos of raw ingredients in them. The limes in those photos are almost always yellow, and indeed, mature limes are yellow, as anyone who keeps them around for a few weeks will find out. Yet in European-based cultures we only ever see green limes.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

In the middle east you'll encounter oranges and tangerines with a natural deep green skin. These will often be referred to as 'Persian'. And a friend in California has the best lime tree--they're yellow when ready. You're right about the expectation by consumers that a lime should be green, but at least some of us know that yellow-ish is usually best.

Friends look askance when I share or serve my ripe, ie yellow, limes. Not sure how you would identify degree of ripeness otherwise, although there is certainly a colour change whilst still green.
Much better flavour when fully ripe.

I never, ever see yellow limes in the store.

I've never seen yellow limes in the store, either, but I have had green limes that I bought turn yellow.

-Paul W.