Darn, I didn’t guess right!

Sometimes, there’s no telling what you’ll find when you crack open an egg. It’s everyone’s general hope that nothing unusual will come out of it, but one thing that’s often ignored when inspecting the contents of that freshly cracked egg is the color of the yolk.

Sure, it’s supposed to be yellowish, but are we paying enough attention to just how yellow our egg yolks are? Findings indicate this detail may reveal more than you think.

The color of an egg’s yolk will often vary based on where it came from. This isn’t a coincidence: An egg yolk’s color is a direct consequence of the nutrients that the hen was fed, and as such, will dictate just what it is you’re consuming too.

The darker your yolk is, the more nutrients it contains. This is generally due to the healthier, more varied diet that free-range hens are offered, containing not only corn and grain but also the occasional bug and vegetable. Pastured eggs are the most nutritious of the three types.

A chicken diet of wheat and barley gives caged eggs its lighter color. It’s the least nutritious of the three types.

Most eggs that are found in supermarkets come from factory farms, which tend to only feed their hens grain, heavily limiting their diet – and ours in turn. While not exactly harmful per se, these lighter yellow yolks are much less effective at delivering the nutrients you’re expecting to ingest.