Everything about double yolk eggs explained
Making your breakfast in the morning is probably the last time you expect to get any surprises.
But sometimes a certain situation can take you by surprise.
If you’ve ever cracked open an egg to make your morning omelette or you scrambled eggs and come across a double yolk egg, you’ll know exactly what we’re talking about.
Cracking open an egg only to find not one but two yolks can be a ‘Woah’ moment for a few reasons.
Not only are double yolks rare, but there are also many superstitions surrounding them.
Whether you believe in the predictive powers of these uncanny eggs is a separate matter, but we’re sure you want to know just how this happens.
So, if you’re looking to expand your knowledge on eggs, keep reading below for a quick guide on double yolk eggs, how they happen, and some of the extraordinary myths surrounding them.
What is a double yolk egg?
We will start in the most obvious place: What is a double yolk egg?
Double yolk eggs are just little hiccups on nature’s part. Usually, when an egg is being produced, only one yolk is released and travels down the oviduct, to form an egg.
A double egg yolk happens when two yolks are released at the same time and are encased by the eggshell.
This is pretty much the same thing as when the human female releases two eggs instead of one from her ovaries. In humans, this leads to twins being born.
In chickens, we get the double yolk egg! However, while humans can get twins every 1 in 250 births, double egg yolks only occur in every 1 out of 1000 eggs. So, if you happen to find one in your breakfast, consider yourself lucky!
Can an egg have more than two yolks?
Going by the same comparison to human beings, yes.
Just as we can sometimes get triplets or even quadruplets, an egg can have more than even two yolks. However, that is a pretty rare occurrence.
The most egg yolks recorded in a single egg are 9, which would’ve led to some incredibly tasty – and fulfilling – eggs.
Do all chickens lay double-yolkers?
Every chicken can lay a double yoked egg, but not every chicken does so in her lifetime.
Mostly double yolk eggs come from young hens, who may have more rapid ovulation as compared to their older counterparts. However, there are some breeds, such as the Buff Orpington produce double yoked eggs much more common than others.
The reproductive process of a regular hen
In this little guide about eggs with two yolks, we thought it would be useful if you learned just how an egg is created in the first place.
The hen’s body gathers all the materials it needs to create the yolk, which produces a chick if the egg is fertilized.
This yolk passes through the fallopian tube and is surrounded by the albumen or the egg whites. This mixture is encased in the eggshell, and then the egg is all ready to be laid!
However, as we discussed earlier, at times the hen’s body releases more than one yolk. This can either be common in younger hens, whose reproductive systems still haven’t settled, or in older hens, who are starting to face dysregulation.
Are double egg yolks bad?
Back to the main focus of this guide…
You might then think that double egg yolks are bad because they weren’t supposed to happen, but that just isn’t the case.
Now and then, in the grocery aisles, you can spot a little glitch in nature. It can be a potato-shaped like a heart or two entwined radishes or double egg yolks – neither of these things is bad for us, they’re just a little different.
In fact, double egg yolks can have more vitamin A and choline, which can help improve your metabolism.
Additionally, double egg yolks are just as healthy as your regular eggs
There’s nothing that can energize you better than a good old egg every morning.
Each egg is packed with protein, vitamins and nutrients that are essential for our body to function well.
For your daily dose of vitamins B-12 and D, make sure you add eggs into your diet. A double yoked egg can act as a jumbo egg!
Superstitions surrounding double egg yolks
Over the years, certain beliefs have crept in about double-yolkers.
You’ve probably heard someone or the other say that black cats are bad omens, or that you shouldn’t look at yourself in broken mirrors. The double yolk egg hasn’t been able to escape these beliefs.
Depending on your culture you’ll find that the double egg yolk usually means one of the three things discussed below:
Twins are on the way!
This is one of the more apparent conclusions that people draw from getting a double yolk egg for breakfast.
Many believe that these eggs show that someone in your immediate family is pregnant and unaware of it. However, if any member of your immediate family is pregnant and are already aware of it, then it means that twins are on the way.
So, if you or any woman you know is trying to get pregnant, the double yolk egg might be the good news you were waiting for or it could just be a double yolk egg….
Death is on the way!
For Norsemen, the double egg yolk was far from the symbol of fertility.
Instead, if you happened to find 2 yolks in 1 egg, it meant that there would soon be a death.
This death could be your own, or in your immediate family, and without a doubt, this is probably the darkest interpretation of the double yolk egg you’ll ever see.
Good fortune is on the way!
To lighten things up, we head to Wiccan beliefs, where the double yolk eggs are bringers of good fortune.
The Wiccans saw the double yolk eggs as bringing bounty and fortune in abundance, and so people welcomed double yolks.
Conclusion
There might be a lot of theories out there about double yolk eggs, but the only thing you need to remember is that they’re delicious.
For egg lovers, getting not one but two yolks is undoubtedly a treat especially if you are making a carbonara, so if you manage to get that one egg out of a thousand, be sure to make the most of it!
Andy
Ever since I started cooking I’ve been fascinated by how different people’s techniques are and how they best utilise the ingredients around them. Even the person living next door will have their own unique way of frying an egg or cooking a salmon fillet.
This fascination led me on a journey across the globe to discover the countless practices and traditions the world of cooking has to offer. I thought you’d enjoy and find value in sharing that journey with me so I created Cooked Best!