Can you eat fertilized eggs?

[al6517]

You sure can, and no good question is a dumb one, ask away it's how we all learn. you'll be an expert in no time.

AL

 

[redhen]

Quote:
ooh, i really dont want to find a balut in one of my eggs..

.. just fertile is fine...but,balut may freak me out..

.....although.....it would save on the breakfast meat expense....HEY!..you may have something there....

 

[Whispering Winds]

My mom always wanted a rooster with her hens, she always said the egg was healthier for us to eat if it had been fertilized. Now, you have to understand my mom was born in 1907 and had a lot of old wives tales, but . . . .I have found out over the years that a whole lot of what she said about farm life was true. Has anyone else ever heard this?

 

[patandchickens]

some people think so. However, the amount of nutrition or, well, really *anything* contributed by A Sperm Cell from the rooster is negligable; and unless you're going the balut route you're eating the egg before much of any interesting metabolic conversions have happened. So I can't see any *practical* likelihood that fertilized eggs are any better for you than un-.

You'd never know the egg was fertile anyway unless you know *just* what to look for. (Assuming it's been collected and refrigerated promptly).

Pat, who was totally grossed out by the though of eating a fertile egg until, of course, we had cockerels grow up last fall and started getting fertile eggs and whaddaya know, no big deal at ALL whatsoever

 

[bigredfeather]

I had an old timer tell me a long time ago if an egg is fertilized it has less cholesterol in it. He's 94 years old now and in great health. He still eats bacon and fresh eggs everyday. I recently did some research and found that is true. I couldn't find anything that gave an specific amount less, but one article suggests about 30% less. I have also read that the amount of cholesterol increases as a eggs ages. Not going to swear on this, but I know I read that somewhere. So there could be some truth that fertilized eggs are healthier in that aspect.

 

[patandchickens]

Could you figure out where you read that?

What I've been able to turn up sez No Difference. Look at the following study: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1342207
where they specifically looked at this issue. I have only read the abstract (minus the last few lines which seem unavailable) and would be curious to see the full paper, but the abstract says no difference was found in cholesterol content of fertilized vs unfertilized eggs. (Phospholipid content of various fractions of the egg contents varied some, in a way I do not know how to interpret, but cholesterol did not).

The 30% sounds suspiciously similar to the difference in cholesterol between commercial vs free-range chicken eggs though. You sure it couldn't be that, that you or your source was thinking of?

Curious to know more,

Pat

 

[Akane]

All recent studies say no difference between fertile and infertile eggs. The difference is the same as why people think brown eggs are healthier than white. Fertile eggs and brown eggs tend to come from home flocks that free range or at least get a better variety and quality of foods than the infertile standard white eggs sold in stores. What the chicken is fed and how it is kept does make a big difference in the nutritional value of it's eggs. Eggs from free range flocks will have less cholesterol and more health benefits than eggs from caged birds.

 

[B. Saffles Farms]

I would advise against eating fertilized eggs myself.

 

[Davaroo]

Can you eat fertilized eggs?

Yes.
Aint nothing like scrambled chicken fetuses, or Embryo Omelets.

Seriously, your stomach wont care and if you cook them before there is noticeable develoment, neither will your socio-cultural mental conditioning.

 

[Shockwave]

Yes, you can eat fertile eggs.