The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 102

from100-percentfree-roaming,pasture-raisedchickens.All
oftheeggswereservedscrambled.Theresults?Indeedthe
pasturedeggsandomega-3–enrichedeggsfaredbetterthan
the standard supermarket eggs. But I also noticed another
correlation:thecoloroftheeggsvariedquiteabit,withthe
pastured eggs on the more intensely orange end of the
spectrum.And the more omega-3s the eggs contained, the
deeperorangetheyolk.Theplainorganiceggsandstandard
factory eggs were the palest of the lot. This difference in
pigmentation can be attributed to the varying diets of the
chickens.Pasturedhenseatbugsandflowers,bothofwhich
contributecolortoyolks.Chickensbredforeggswithhigh
omega-3 acids are fed with a diet enriched with flaxseeds
andseakelp,whichcontributecolor.Chickensthatlaythese
more expensive eggs are also sometimes fed pigmented
supplements, like marigold leaves, that make their yolks
niceandbright.Coulditbethattheflavordifferencestasters
were reporting had more to do with their reaction to the
colorthantotheactualflavoroftheegg?


Theseeggsweredyedgreeninordertofigureoutjusthow
bigarolecolorplaysinourperceptionofflavor.Hint:it’sa
lot.
Inordertoeliminatecolorasavariable,Icookedupthe
same kinds of eggs, this time dying them green with some
foodcoloring.WhenIre-administeredthetastingwithgreen
eggs,there was absolutely no correlation between flavor
andprovenance.Peoplelikedtheregularsupermarketeggs
just as much as the eggs that had come straight from the
pasture.

Want to see the same effect for yourself?Take a look at
these two (identical save for some Photoshop color
tinkering)pansofeggsandtellmewhichoneyou’drather
eat: