To Color Egg Yolks

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · May 19, 1904

To Color Egg Yolks

DURING the winter of 1902-03 a number of experiments were conducted at the West Virginia Experiment Station to study the effect upon the flavor of eggs of feeding different foods and flavoring materials. It is quite unnecessary to say that if eggs could be produced having a more agreeable flavor than ordinary eggs, they could be sold to special customers at a considerable advance over the usual market rates.

The grains fed either alone or in combination for this purpose include corn, wheat, oats, Canadian field peas, cow-peas, soy-beans, peanuts, and sunflower seeds. The flavoring materials employed were trimethylamin, celery oil, and oil of sassafras. Beef scrap was fed to balance the different rations, except in one case, when smoked herrings were used. The green food supplied consisted of sugar-beets, which were readily eaten.

Quite contrary to expectations, the flavor of the eggs was not noticeably altered by any of the rations of flavoring materials employed, although it has been shown by investigations at the North Carolina Station that the feeding of onions imparts a very distinct and undesirable flavor.

The different rations, however, very clearly affected the color of the yolks. When the grain ration consisted of wheat, oats, or white corn, fed alone or in combination with one another, the yolks were so light colored that the eggs would be quite unsuitable for fancy trade. When the grain supply consisted entirely of white corn, the yolks were very light colored, while, on the other hand, the feeding of yellow corn imparted to the yolks that rich yellow color which is so desirable.— Tribune.