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You will also have noticed this if you find yourself breaking eggs to prepare a savory dish that often contains a white thread.
What does this mean? Is the egg containing this thread edible? And most importantly, is it harmful to our health? Let’s answer these questions.
We want to reassure you right from the start: Yes, raw eggs containing this strange white thread are not only safe to eat, but also delicious. The name of this thread is Chalaza, and almost no one knows that it is precisely this thread that allows us to judge the quality of our ingredient.
The chalaza is made of egg whites and has an important role: it binds the yolks and egg whites together and ensures that the yolks remain intact amidst the egg whites. Therefore, it is not the umbilical cord that connects the hen and the chick, as many believe, but simply a protein structure attached to both the yolk and the eggshell.
Now that you understand what the white thread is in raw eggs, you can eat them with more awareness and peace of mind. If the chalaza is visible, it means the egg is fresh and perfect for consumption. If, on the other hand, the white thread is not visible, it means the egg is now old and should no longer be eaten fresh, but only cooked.
There’s also another method to check if an egg is fresh or not. Are you familiar with the glass method? If you’re curious to know how it works, read on because the knowledge will be very useful to you.
Simply fill a glass with cold water and place your egg in it. If it’s fresh, you’ll see it sink to the bottom of the pot. When it’s no longer fresh, you’ll see it float to the top.
What should you do if you see red spots that look like blood? In this case, too, we can reassure you: the egg is edible. But why do you find spots or blotches of this color? Quite simply: because the capillary rupture occurred during the formation of the egg.
