For years, eggs were touted as an "incredible edible" food source. One egg has 13 essential nutrients, including high-quality protein, choline, folate, iron and zinc, according to the American Egg Board, or AEB, which came up with the catchy jingle and hosts the consumer website Incredible Egg! All that nutrition comes at the cost of about 70 calories. But as people have become more concerned with cholesterol, the yolk of the egg has been ostracized while the whites have been given a starring role in many people's eyes.
Considerations
Dietary cholesterol is found in all foods from animals. If you want to cut out all the cholesterol from an egg, use only the egg white, which has no cholesterol or fat, according to the Egg Nutrition Center. It also contains few calories: The white of one large egg has 16 calories, ENC reports.
Nutritional Value
The white of a large egg contains 3.6 g of protein, 2 mg of calcium, 5 mg of phosphorus, 54 mg of potassium, 55 mg of sodium and 5 mg of magnesium as well as small amounts of iron, zinc and selenium, 0.03, 0.01 mg and 6.6 ug, respectively, according to ENC.
Significance
The U.S. Department of Agriculture notes that using egg whites is one way to help reduce some of the unhealthy aspects, such as fat and cholesterol, of baking. In its publication "Using the Food Guide Pyramid: A Resource for Nutrition Educators," the USDA suggests that you substitute two egg whites for one whole egg in recipes for baked goods.
Separating an Egg
There are several way to separate an egg, according to the website OChef. An old-time method is to give the egg a hard crack on the edge of a metal bowl. Hold the egg upright and separate the shell in two over the bowl. Some of the egg white should spill into the the bowl with the rest of the white and yolk staying in the bottom half of the shell. Pour the yolk from the bottom half of the shell into the other half. More of the white should slide into the bowl. Repeat this process until you have all the white in the bowl and the yolk left in one half of the shell. The method has its critics, due to concern that the shell may be infected with harmful bacteria, which could get into the egg whites, OChef reports.
The method OChef prefers is to simply to crack the egg directly into a bowl. Reach into the bowl with your hand and quickly take out the yolk. Like the older method, you may have to exchange the yolk from one cupped hand to the other to get all the white to slide into the bowl.
Buying Egg Whites
You can buy egg whites at a grocery store. They are sold in cartons as an egg "substitute." Some of these substitutes are 98 percent or 99 percent egg white with added nutrients, salts and flavorings, though there are some brands that contain nothing but egg white.
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