I’m as prone to believe egg myths as the next person. I’ve been buying brown eggs out of a belief that they are in some way better than white eggs. But are they? In setting out to find out the truth, I came across a couple of other myth-busting facts about eggs that surprised me. And so I present to you, the first in my occasional series, “I Didn’t Know That!”

I chose eggs myths for the first piece in this series because my cooking is so egg-dependent. Unless you’re a vegan, you’re probably in my camp. Eggs are in baked goods, quiche, – even latkes for Chanukah. Whether you use the entire egg when you eat them plain or scrambled, or only the whites as my friend Rachel does, eggs are an easy meal.

Plus, they typically last a long time. As long as you check the date label on the carton when you buy them, you can have eggs sitting unused in your refrigerator for weeks and pull a couple out when you have nothing else to eat or no inspiration for cooking lunch or dinner.

 3 Egg Myths – Busted! 

Brown eggs are healthier.

According to the US Department of Agriculture, that’s not true. The breed of the hen that laid the egg determines eggshell color and there is no significant nutritional difference between brown and white eggs. According to Consumer Reports (and my own taste tests and experience cooking with both types), there is also no difference in flavor or quality between brown and white eggs. Egg myth #1 busted. 

You should wash the outside rind of melons before you cut them and you should wash eggs before you crack them.

Wrong – at least about the egg washing. Melons are not washed before sale and you should wash the rinds to prevent bacteria on the rind from moving to the inside of the fruit as you cut through the rind. By contrast, in the US and many other countries, commercially sold eggs are washed before sale and should not be re-washed by the consumer; re-washing could actually increase the possibility of cross-contamination. Egg myth #2 busted.

Cage-free eggs, pasture-raised eggs and eggs from free-roaming or free-range chickens come from happier, healthier chickens than eggs that are from hens raised in cages.

Not necessarily. There are no US government regulations defining “cage-free,” “pasture-raised,” “free-roaming”, and “free-range” in the context of egg production.  While the chickens that produce such eggs may be better treated than those kept in cages, there is no assurance that is the case unless you know the conditions on the specific farm from which the eggs come. Egg myth #3  busted.

Now that you know, will these facts change the eggs you buy or what you do with them once you buy the eggs?