Talk:Egg white

Production?
Curious as to how eggs are processed to fun be packaged and sold as concentrated egg whites. Is there some sort of machine that systematically breaks the eggshells and filters the yolks out?152.3.85.176 01:58, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

Protein vs Calories
The article says a large egg has 20 calories and 9 grams of protein. This can't be. ONE gram of protein contains 4 calories. So if the egg white has 9 grams of protein it must have 36 calories. If it has 20 calories it must contain 5 grams of protein. Which is it? I removed the section till someone can find out for sure. Please do not undo the edit as they both can't be right. Find out which one is correct the post the correct one. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.26.81.86 (talk) 03:32, 11 September 2008 (UTC) The article actually stated that the average egg white only contains 4.7grams of protien......therefore, 20 calories +/- would be correct....

Spelling
"it called albumin/men?"


 * both spellings are fine -- Tarquin


 * Are you sure? Don't the two words mean different things? I thought albumen actually the egg white, whereas albumin was part of the egg white, in which case 'albumin' would be the correct one here. Angela


 * Albumen is the egg white itself, where as albumin is a protein found in albumen. Albumin is defined by Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary Unabridged on CD-ROM v3 as "any of a large class of simple proteins that are usually characterized by their solubility in pure water, dilute salt solutions, and half-saturated ammonium sulfate or sodium sulfate solutions, that are coagulable by heat, thereby carrying coloring matters and impurities along with them, that form important constituents of human or animal blood plasma or serum and are found also in muscle, the whites of eggs, milk, and other animal substances and in many vegetable tissues and fluids, and that are used especially for clarifying liquids, in photography, and in textile printing".

Egg White/Protein
An interesting fact to incorporate: According to Le Ton beau de Marot by Douglas R. Hofstadter, the German word Eiweiß (literally "egg white") means "protein."
 * German isn't the only language to have that happen, it's the same with Dutch, where the term eiwit is used(With both the same literal and nonliteral translation, and the meaning depending on the context in which it's used)--Smoke 01:58, 18 July 2005 (UTC)

I have a question - the albumen in the eggs laid by my chooks is often quite runny ... does anyone know what I can feed them to change this? Lee

Lack of citations
There are quite a few claims in this article which I'm not sure I can just take some unknown editor's word for:


 * 1) The protein partially unravels and forms a good foaming agent. A foam is formed by the protein forming a stable film around the included air. Studies show that the best foam forms when the unraveling of the protein is only partial.
 * 2) Many cooks recommend using a copper bowl to beat egg whites. This has the effect of making it take longer to form the foam, but leads to a much more stable foam. This is probably because the copper atoms form a complex with the conalbumin protein which makes it difficult to unravel, which means that it takes around twice the time to get a good foam, but very much more difficult to overbeat.
 * 3) The one possible drawback of using a copper bowl is the toxicity of copper. However, the amount incorporated into the egg whites is likely to be far too small to cause ill effect.
 * 4) Cream of tartar should not be used if a copper bowl is used, because it can react with the copper and force more of it into solution (acids react with metals, in general), thus increasing the toxic effect.
 * 5) Iron poisoning is the second leading cause of death among toddlers in the United States and it is recommended that parents always keep eggs around the house and lock up all vitamins and supplements out of the reach of children.

My take:


 * 1) That might be the case, but if you're going to say "studies show", please let us know which studies.  (If not, at least show us the source that quotes Mr. Unspecified Study.) Thus a missing ciatation.
 * 2) "Probably" does not exactly exudes confidence; a study performed by actual chemists would definitely help.  (If not, at least show us the source that claims this "probable" theory.)  Thus a missing citation.
 * 3) Toxicity can be a serious issue especially considering that some metal ions can accumulate in the body over years.  An actual scientific study on this toxicity (and results showing that it is not significant) is nothing short of required.  Thus a missing citation. A citation was added by User:202.248.76.241 on 04:00, 17 July 2006.  It's a TV show transcript, perhaps not the most informative source but certainly much better than nothing. Thanks! 24.19.184.243 09:30, 18 July 2006 (UTC)
 * 4) This ties in with point no. 3 about toxicity, though I'll accept quoting a standard chemistry book about the reactions of acids with metal. (Yet even so, different metals react with different strengths to acids, so it still helps to know how serious this reaction may be).  Thus potentially a missing citation.
 * 5) A few sentences before claim no. 5, it is stated that "In cases where poisoning by heavy metals is suspected ovalbumin should be administered on direction from emergency personal." Note added emphasis.  Given that it should be administered by professionals, I'm uneasy about the recommendation to casual parents using egg whites in the same manner.  Not to mention that vitamins don't contain iron, nor are most dietary supplements (except of course iron supplements).  This claim seriously needs a reliable source to back up.  Thus a missing citation.  Oh yeah, and "Iron poisoning is the second leading cause of death among toddlers in the United States".  Okay, cool, but then what's the first and third leading causes?  This clearly is pulled off of a reference, it'd be useful to know exactly where (and also when the statistics were collected; after all, numbers like those can shift over time).

The references added so far in the "References" section does not answer to any of the five concerns above left four out of five concerns above unaddressed. 24.19.184.243 09:32, 18 July 2006 (UTC)


 * There is no toxicity from the copper unless someone doesn't properly rinse the cleaner from the bowl. Copper in this negligatble amount is not toxic otherwise the use of coper in professional kitchens would be illegal, nor is adding cream of tartar toxic, the reason it is not added when using a copper bowl is because the two pretty much do the same thing, that is help bring a firmer peak to the egg whites so using both items is pointless (read Harold McGhee's On Food and Cooking).--Christopher Tanner, CCC 12:45, 31 July 2007 (UTC)

Seems Biased not sourced
Went ahead and took this out, it's very pro organic, poorly worded, and has no citations.

Raw eggs are not of a health hazard unless they are commercial. Commercial eggs are raised under dismal sanitary and space conditions requiring injecting the chickens with antibiotics and other toxins to keep them alive. In addition, their feed has pesticidesl. Therefore it is not safe to eat raw commercial eggs.

However, eggs from organic free roaming, healthy chickens who do not receive shots of any kind and feed mostly organic grass, are safe to eat. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.151.147.100 (talk) 20:38, 21 February 2013 (UTC)

Medicinal characteristics
After extensive research I was not able to verify the claim that ovalbumin may be effective for the treatment of heavy metal poisoning. I was not able to find anything suggesting that ovalbumin is a chelating agent at all. Even if it was a chelating agent it probably wouldn't be effective in the acidic environment within the stomach because this would denature the ovalbumin. Perhaps a heavy metal could be attached to ovalbumin and administered as some kind of immunotherapy in the future, but this is definitely not a current medical practise. I also highly doubt the claim that "iron poisoning is the second leading cause of death among toddlers in the United States". If someone can provide a reference for any of these claims I would be extremely interested. For now I think it's safest to remove this section of the article to avoid potentially dangerous situations involving self-administration of egg-whites in the case of heavy metal poisoning. Juicy-one 10:27, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

Seperate article for ovalbumin
Ovalbumin is an important protein used in immunology research and in proteomics (as a molecular weight marker). I therefore believe that it warrants its own article seperate from egg whites. This would also be much less confusing for the readers as ovalbumin is only a constituent of egg white, it is not a synonym. I will do a bit more research and put together an article on ovalbumin and change the redirect. Juicy-one 10:27, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

Blood red egg whites
My friend was making pancakes and one of his eggs had blood red egg whites. Yolk was still yellow, though. I have searched all over the interbutt, and I have not been able to come close to an explanation for this. This oddity has certainly peaked my curiosity, however! Reibear 03:35, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

Names?
"Egg white is the common name for the clear liquid (also called albumen, poggle, or glair/glaire)."

Now I've heard egg white & albumen. I'm willing to accept glair as maybe coming from French cooking. But where the heck does poogle come from? (It sounds kinda British to me.) Trcunning 06:09, 20 July 2007 (UTC)


 * I agree. I googled tem & this is what I got: egg white = about 6,700,000 pages, egg albumen = about 396,000 pages, egg glair = about 10,900 pages, egg poogle = 505 pages.

Chicken eggs
Most of the information on here is specific to chicken egg whites and as such should be reflected in the introduction of the article and probably the title of the article. Egg whites from different animals have a different make-up than chickens do.--Christopher Tanner, CCC 13:21, 31 July 2007 (UTC)

Moving some material from one article to another
I have moved some material from the company article Eggology to this article. The transfer is described at Talk:Eggology. --User:Ceyockey ( talk to me ) 19:40, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

Glair
Nowhere in this article is egg tempera mentioned. While in panel painting only the yolk is used, in manuscript illumination, "glair" is used as a medium. To make the "glair" one must beat pure egg white with a feather until it stiffens into a meringue, add three tablespoons of cold water and let it sit overnight. The liquid that has settled at the bottom of the bowl can then be used as a medium. The term "glair" in no way originates from cooking as it has been documented with the instructions for this technique in "De Arte Illuminandi: a 14th century treatise by anonymous" Translated from Latin by Daniel V. Thompson New Haven, 1933. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tofubravado (talk • contribs) 20:20, 31 March 2008 (UTC)


 * This YouTube video, Pens, Paint-making, and Illumination - NYPL's Three Faiths Scriptorium on the New York Public Library's channel, shows a woman making manuscript illumination paint with glair - at about 4:50 in the presentation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIUQznSEPl0


 * This YouTube video, Egg tempera painting with gold leaf, by Lara Broecke, a person making a non-religious icon, makes "egg white ink" (though not called glair here), at about 0:30 on the video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX1JHfBdICY


 * All the best, Tofubravado, Wordreader (talk) 03:01, 16 April 2018 (UTC)

Picture
Should the dominant feature of the picture in this article be an egg yolk? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.44.85.180 (talk) 23:11, 18 May 2008 (UTC)

Calorie content
I was just passing through and noticed under "Composition" it is stated that a US large egg white has around 20 calories. I believe it is actually just under 40 calories even using the information provided right there. One gram of protein is four calories and so is one gram of carbohydrate. So 9.6g x 4 = 38.4 0.3 x 4 = 1.2

Total = 39.6 calories.

Dont want to edit because my visits to Wikipedia are usually brief and am not familiar with etiquette. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.49.105.105 (talk) 17:10, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

An average egg (including yoke) contains approx. 6 grams of protein, so no way does an egg white contain 9.6 grams. Probably why the calorie info doesn't jive. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.184.128.195 (talk) 18:18, 28 July 2008 (UTC)

The weight of the white of a US large egg
Most references out on the web say that a US large egg white weighs 30 grams or 28 grams (one US ounce). However this article says it weighs 38 grams. Perhaps this is a typo. It may also at least partially account for calorie the discrepancies discussed here, as 38 grams is about 25% more than 28 or 30. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.92.79.175 (talk) 12:41, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

A reference to the list of egg-white's proteins
The first reference in the references' list is McGee, which is the source for the list of the egg-white's protiens. Can someone please tell me, what is the article or book whose McGee involved in concerning the list of the proteins? Thanks —Preceding unsigned comment added by Shailevi8 (talk • contribs) 18:26, 26 December 2008 (UTC)

Denatured egg white
So if the protein in eggs is denatured by cooking it, does this mean that a cooked egg's protein is still valuable to the body (even if not as valuable as a raw egg)? And do different cooking methods (i.e microwaving) make the protein in eggs even less nutritious? Kitty (talk) 09:08, 15 September 2009 (UTC)

Egg Anatomy
The egg white is not the cytosol of the egg. The 'yolk' is the egg that is released from the ovary and is is surrounded by the cell membrane. The yolk itself is essentially a large lipid vacuole within the cell. The germinal disk (white spot on the yolk) contains the cells genetic information (the nucleus) an is where the egg would be fertilized. When the egg is ovulated, the yolk passes into the rest of the reproductive tract where the egg whites, membranes and shell are added. Finally the 'egg' is laid. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.199.245.195 (talk) 20:55, 6 May 2010 (UTC)

Conflicting information on protein values
This article says "The U.S. large egg's white weighs 38 grams with 4.7 grams of protein, 0.3 grams of carbohydrate and 62 milligrams of sodium." but the egg yolk article says "One large egg (50 g total, 17 g yolk) contains approximately: 2.7 g protein, 210 mg cholesterol, 0.61 g carbohydrates, and 4.51 g total fat. (USDA National Nutrient Database)" How can the egg white by itself have 4.7 grams of protein when the whole egg is cited to have 2.7 grams of protein? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.171.163.68 (talk) 16:45, 9 November 2010 (UTC)


 * The UK's public health database lists raw raw egg white with 10.8% protein, so 38g of egg white would contain about 4.1g of protein. It lists whole chicken eggs as having 12.8% protein, so the 50g example above would contain about 6.4g of protein.  This suggests that the egg yolk article is incorrect. 88.145.16.196 (talk) 20:34, 25 April 2022 (UTC)

Wtf are chooky proteins?
Chooky proteins? Huh? The internet gives no real clues. Urban Dictionary has a completely unrelated definition of "chooky" and that's about it. I can't even tell what part of speech it is (is that a noun or an adjective?). Wth are chooky proteins? --74.88.34.126 (talk) 03:34, 3 January 2017 (UTC)

I think that "chook" is an informal term for "chicken" in Australia. Ilikefood (talk) 02:57, 15 June 2019 (UTC)

Added More Detail to Image Caption.
the main image on the site originally just had a caption saying it is a pocture of a yolk surrounded by an egg white, but the image is of an entire raw egg, not just the yolk and white. Membranous tissue and other stuctures are visible which indicate this.

As a result, I have added some additional information, such as a more detailed description of what is the yolk, what is the white, and pointing out the membrane, and I will be returning to make another minor edit to just mention that it is a whole cracked egg. VoidHalo (talk) 16:17, 21 August 2023 (UTC)