Should you eat the whole egg, or just the white?
Posted by kathryn in A Balanced Diet and Eggs
I’m a great admirer of the egg. They’re an excellent package of dense nutrition, easy to use and highly adaptable.
Eggs contain protein, along with a plethora of minerals and vitamins.
With eggs you’re getting a lot of nutrition for your money.
The white vs the yolk
Diet books and bodybuilders recommend restricting yourself to the egg white only. But, if you do that you’re missing out on loads of wonderful nutrition.
The egg white is mostly protein and water.
In contrast, the yolk carries all the egg’s extra goodness. The yolk is what converts eggs from being a cheap source of protein into something a whole lot more special. Inside that golden yolk is:
- calcium
- iron
- zinc
- Vitamin A
- carotenoid antioxidants
- vitamin B1
What about the fat?
The yolk does contain most of the fat. Concern about saturated fat and cholesterol, has led many to exclude eggs from their diet. A reality check shows one egg contains 5g of fat, of which only 1.5g is saturated. The rest is the more healthy unsaturated fat.
Eggs are also free of trans fats and in the past year they’ve been given a Heart Foundation tick.
How to use eggs
Eggs can be cooked in a variety of ways, from boiled through to scrambled. They can be made into frittatas, quiches and omelettes. Eggs are a quick, affordable and highly nutritious food.
Why not try the following?
- poached eggs with asparagus
- cinnamon scented egg, pasta and lemon soup
- hard boiled eggs in red lentil curry sauce
- zucchini fritters
- lablabi
- pumpkin, fetta and tomato tian
What’s your favourite way of using eggs?
29 October, 2007
Comments
Plus just using one part of the egg is quite wasteful!
Absolutely right Joanne. You can freeze both egg whites and yolks – but it’s still easier to use them both together.
My favorite way of using eggs is with Bacon, hash browns, hollandaise sauce, sausages, fried onions, mushrooms, pancakes, buttered toast, maple syrup….just your usual healthy suspects for a Sunday fry up!
Our four little chickens are such abundant suppliers that I am flat out trying to use the eggs. At the moment I have about nine dozen cartons sitting in the fridge (no kidding) and this leads me to ask Kathryn, how long would you recommend I can safely store them for?
A great way to use up leftovers or vegetables is to toss in a frypan and then add about six eggs with a little cream, like a savoury omelette. I do this at least once a week. Stir fried eggs in a wok are very quick and easy to put into muffins with bacon, cheese and tomato sauce. The kids love them.
My Favourite sweets things using eggs are lemon butter, baked rice pudding and any type of homemade cake.
Mariana, if you keep your eggs in the fridge they should be good for 6 weeks. Usually the best-before date on egg cartons is 4 weeks from packing and they’re good for about 2 weeks after that – although they’re not as tasty!
You can also freeze them, if you find you’re overwhelmed. Break the egg into a plastic container, or freezer bag and store for later use. There’s more about eggs on the Choice website.
I had no idea you could freeze raw eggs. I don’t have a need for that at the moment, but for some reason, i think that’s kind of cool :)
I like eggs in the morning, usually mixed with a vegetable or two. I love cheese in eggs, but don’t do that too often any more. I had a treat and had plain fried eggs with toast and bacon the other morning. It was just really simple and very good.
Wow Kathryn. Freezing Eggs. I never would have thought to do that. Thanks again for your ongoing useful info.
Very interesting as always Kathryn. I’m reading a fabulous book called “Skinny bitch” at the moment and it’s been going on about the benefits of going vegan. I think your piece above outlines just why my diet is kind of okay the way it is…
Thank God! I read the title of this post and started to panic thinking: “please don’t say the yolk is terribly bad for me. Pleeeeaasse don’t”.
Many thanks for this informative post from a whole egg lover. :)
LeAnne and Mariana – freezing eggs is a trick I learnt from Nigella Lawson. I’ve mainly used after cooking foods which required only the yolk or white. I’ve then frozen the other half. It’s a handy trick.
Mallika, I’ve been hearing a LOT about the Skinny Bitch book – although I haven’t yet seen it here in Australia. It obviously hasn’t fully convinced you, but what do you think about it in general?
Wendy – glad to oblige!
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