Century egg

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, old egg
Place of origin	Hunan, China
Main ingredients	Egg preserved in clay, ash, salt, quicklime, and rice hulls
Variations	duck, chicken, or quail eggs
Media: Century egg

Century eggs (Chinese: 皮蛋; pinyin: pídàn; Jyutping: pei4 daan2), also known as alkalized or preserved eggs, are a Chinese dish made by preserving 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 processing method.^[1]

Through the process, the yolk becomes dark greenish-grey in color, with a creamy consistency and strong flavor due to the hydrogen sulfide and ammonia present, while the white becomes dark brown in color, with a translucent jelly-like appearance, a gelatinous texture, and salty and umami 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, producing a variety of smaller flavorful compounds.^{[citation needed]}

Some eggs have patterns near the surface of the egg white likened to pine branches. These patterned eggs are regarded as having better quality than the normal century eggs and are called Songhua eggs (Chinese: 松花蛋), variously translated as pine flower eggs or pine-patterned eggs.^{[citation needed]}