Buzz
Eggs, unlike mass-produced, processed foods and drinks, can differ greatly in both look and composition. Since they come from chickens, not factories, these variations are normal, not only from one hen to another but even from egg to egg. Once, I bought a dozen eggs and ended up with 11 double yolks (I briefly thought I was magical, but thankfully that’s no longer seen as odd). The point is, eggs are unpredictable, and changes in appearance can be surprising.
Recently, my parents got chickens (they came along with their new house in the countryside), which has been wonderful since I've only had to buy eggs once in the last six months. Fresh eggs, straight from the hen or bought from the farmer’s market, can be even more unpredictable than those from the store. Sometimes the shell might be wrinkled, the egg might be small, or the egg white might appear cloudy.
If you’re accustomed to perfectly clear egg whites, seeing a cloudy one might be a surprise, but there’s no need to worry. In fact, it’s something to celebrate. A cloudy white means your egg is incredibly fresh. The cloudiness is caused by dissolved carbon dioxide that hasn’t yet escaped through the shell, and it won’t affect the egg’s flavor in any way.
A pinkish white, on the other hand, is not safe to eat. The USDA states that a pink or pearlescent appearance in the white suggests spoilage caused by Pseudomonas bacteria. This is different from blood spots in the yolk, which happen due to a “rupture of one or more small blood vessels in the yolk during ovulation,” and are still completely safe to consume. (If the sight of blood makes you uneasy, just scramble the egg.)
