A dozen cracking facts to celebrate National Egg Day

Eggs have been consumed by humans for hundreds of thousands of years. Boiled, scrambled, poached, fried – used for binding and coating, as well as being an essential ingredient in baking and cooking, for their ability to enhance the texture, flavour and structure of dishes.

The egg is nothing if not versatile.

So, as it’s National Egg Day, we’ve whisked up a dozen eggscellent facts to celebrate the occasion.

1. Eggs are rich in choline. This is a nutrient that helps support brain health, including mood, memory, and thinking.

2. The yolk of an egg contains fats that help with the release of flavour in other ingredients in a recipe, therefore making it more tasty.

3. Eggs contain lutein, which helps prevent cataracts and muscle degeneration.

4. Egg yolks are one of the few foods that naturally contain Vitamin D.

5. An egg shell can have as many as 17,000 pores.

6. When an egg is laid, it has a protective layer called ‘bloom’ that seals the pores on the egg to stop bacteria from entering it.

7. Eggs should be stored with the pointed end down, as this helps keep the air cell (which is at the blunt end) at the top. This then prevents the yolk from sticking to the inside of the shell, and keeps the egg fresher for longer.

8. The word ‘yolk’ comes from an old English term for ‘yellow’.

9. Approximately 13 billion eggs are consumed each year in the UK.

10. Eggs are considered a complete protein source as they contain all 9 of the essential amino acids that the human body needs, but is unable to produce by itself.

11. You can test the freshness of an egg by placing it in a bowl of water. If the egg is fresh it will sink to the bottom of the bowl. If the egg floats, it’s gone bad.

12. A post of a picture of an egg was once the most Liked photo on Instagram, with over 60 million Likes.

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