Many people operate under the misconception that brown eggs are more nutritious than white ones. The purpose of this week’s post is to disavow you of that notion. In fact, the color of the shell has nothing to do with the contents of the egg.

Egg shell color is related to the breed of hen that laid the egg. In general, chickens with white feathers lay a white egg, and chickens with dark feathers lay a brown egg. Across the spectrum, however, there is a significant amount of variation.

My black and white Hamburgs lay a small, relatively angular egg, more cream-colored than chalky white. Such distinctiveness makes it easy to tell these eggs from the rest. In contrast, the gold-laced Wyandottes lay a very long, light brown egg with pink color tones, interestingly symmetrical from end to end so that, at first glance, the top and bottom are not always easy to distinguish from one other. Finally, the Golden Buffs lay enormous XXL-sized eggs, warm brown in color. These beauties are gigantic, so big that many of them, at least half, don’t fit in a standard egg carton. And if I do try to fit them in, the carton won’t close.

When you crack a fresh egg, whether white, cream, pink, beige, or brown, you can expect to see a yellow-orange yolk perched high above a clear, firm white. The very deep yellow yolk, practically orange, tells you that this nutritious egg came from a chicken whose diet consists of plenty of grass, bugs and worms. The color of the shell has absolutely no relation to what’s inside.

Just like with people.