DeColdest ToEvaTweet

The scrambled eggs at a hotel breakfast are 19% water, and they're dyed. A lot of hotels and cafeterias pour them from a carton of Papetti's Breakfast Blend. The spec sheet reads whole eggs, 19% water, then under 2% of salt, xanthan gum, citric acid, annatto color and natural butter flavor. Papetti's is part of Michael Foods, one of the biggest egg processors in the country. Every ingredient has a job on a steam table. Xanthan gum holds the added water in the egg so it doesn't weep into the pan. Citric acid keeps the eggs from turning gray or green under a heat lamp. Annatto puts back the yolk color the water washed out. The butter flavor is there because nobody is going to add butter. The carton keeps for 98 days in the cooler. The plain version from the same company is whole eggs, whey, skim milk, xanthan and citric acid, with almost no added water and half the sodium.