Egg Fun Facts

The Easter egg tradition has roots in medieval Europe. Eggs were forbidden during Lent, so people decorated the ones laid during that period and gave them as gifts on Easter.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica — 'Easter Egg'

During the 18th century in France, it was said that Louis XV's court consumed over 200 eggs a week in custards, sauces, and pastries alone.

Source: Larousse Gastronomique

In 1493, Columbus brought chickens to the New World on his second voyage. Within 50 years, chickens had spread across the Americas.

Source: Smithsonian National Museum of American History

Egg yolks are one of the few foods that naturally contain vitamin D. One large yolk provides about 41 IU, roughly 7% of the daily recommended value.

Source: USDA FoodData Central

Eggs are the gold standard for measuring protein quality. The Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS) of whole egg is 1.0 — the maximum possible.

Source: FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Protein Quality Evaluation

One large egg contains about 72 calories. That's roughly the same as a medium apple.

Source: USDA FoodData Central

Pasture-raised eggs can contain up to twice as much omega-3 fatty acids and three times as much vitamin E compared to conventional eggs.

Source: Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences, 2010

The world's largest egg collection belongs to the Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology in California, which holds over 1 million egg specimens from nearly 4,000 species.

Source: Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology

The oldest known preserved egg is a fossilized dinosaur egg from the Late Cretaceous period, approximately 70 million years old, found in Guangdong Province, China.

Source: National Geographic; Chinese Academy of Sciences

A hen's body takes about 24 to 26 hours to produce a single egg. The shell alone takes about 20 hours to form in the shell gland (uterus).

Source: University of Illinois Extension — Incubation and Embryology