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Century egg
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Century Egg
A century egg sliced open | |
| Alternative names | preserved egg, hundred-year egg, thousand-year egg, thousand-year-old egg, millennium egg, black egg, blacking egg, skin egg |
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| Place of origin | China |
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| Main ingredients | Egg preserved in clay, ash, salt, quicklime, and rice hulls |
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| Variations | duck, chicken or quail eggs |
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| Chinese name | |
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| Century egg | |
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| Chinese | 皮蛋 |
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| Literal meaning | "leather/skin egg" |
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| Alternative Chinese name | |
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| Chinese | 松花蛋 |
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| Literal meaning | pine-patterned egg |
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Century eggs (
Chinese:
皮蛋;
pinyin:
pídàn;
Jyutping:
pei4 daan2), also known as
preserved eggs,
hundred-year eggs,
thousand-year eggs,
thousand-year-old eggs,
millennium eggs, skin eggs, or
black eggs, are a
Chinese preserved egg product made by processing
duck,
chicken or
quail eggs in a mixture of
clay,
ash,
salt,
quicklime, and
rice hulls for several weeks to several months, depending on the method of processing.
[1]
Through the process, the
yolk becomes a dark green to grey color, with a creamy consistency and strong flavor due to the
hydrogen sulfide and
ammonia present, while the
white becomes a dark brown, translucent jelly with a salty flavor. The transforming agent in the century egg is an
alkaline salt, which gradually raises the
pH of the egg to around 9–12, during the curing process.
[2] This chemical process breaks down some of the complex, flavorless proteins and fats, which produces a variety of smaller flavorful compounds.
Some eggs have patterns near the surface of the egg white which are likened to
pine branches. These patterned eggs are regarded as having better quality than the normal century eggs and are called
Songhua eggs, also known as
pine flower eggs or
pine-patterned eggs (
Chinese: 松花蛋). In 2014, 3 million ton of Songhua eggs were consumed in China.
[3]
I'll clear out a room when someone opens the lid on a jar
