AllWhites and Better’n Eggs Contest

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Egg white is the common name for the clear liquid (also called the albumen or the glair/glaire) contained within an egg. In chickens it is formed from the layers of secretions of the anterior section of the hen’s oviduct during the passage of the egg. It forms around either fertilized or unfertilized egg yolks. It consists mainly of about 10 proteins dissolved in water. Its primary natural purpose is to protect the egg yolk and provide additional nutrition for the growth of the embryo, as it is rich in proteins, though it contains almost no fat, unlike the egg yolk, which has a high fat value. There are many culinary and nonculinary uses for egg whites, for example, mousse. Metaphorically, albumen is represented as the essential nutritional substrate upon which growth and life is built. The egg white is about two-thirds of the total egg’s weight out of its shell, with nearly 92 of that weight coming from water. The remaining weight of the egg white comes from protein, trace minerals, fatty material, vitamins, and glucose. 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. The U.S. large egg white contains about 20 kcalories and no cholesterol. It contains approximately 40 different proteins. Below is a list of the proteins found in egg whites by percentage, along with their natural functions. (Total listed 95.8) The physical stress of beating egg white can create a foam. There are two types of physical stress caused by the beating them with a whisk, the first being that the whisk drags the liquid through itself, creating a force that unfolds the protein molecules. This process is called denaturation. The second stress comes from the mixing of air into the whites, which causes the proteins to come out of their natural state. These denatured proteins gather together where the air and water meet and create multiple bonds with the other unraveled proteins, and thus become a foam, holding the incorporated air into place. This is because the proteins consist of amino acids; some are hydrophilic (attracted to water) and some are hydrophobic (repelled by water). This process is called coagulation, because it is like blood clotting.