ZipiZen: A Field Guide to Recognizing Your Eggs, Part II

Since our last egg safari, our field researchers have discovered many, many more new species of eggs. This handy guide will get you up to speed.

Dyed Eggs
Originally, Tea Eggs acquired their unique crackle pattern from being boiled in soy sauce.

^{Link + instructions}

But over time, they’ve evolved far more colorful markings. Though they’re easily domesticated, should you spot these in the wild, approach delicately, pinkies up.

^{Link + instructions}

These cascarones — the feistiest, most festive variety of the dyed-egg family, traditionally cracked on the forehead — can achieve their brilliant colors with natural dyes.

^{Link + instructions}

Tons more after the jump.

Architectural Eggs
Neither of these conceptual entities have hatched yet, but you’ll know how to spot them when they do. Designer Michael Rosenthal predicts that someday, this humungous ovoid eco-hotel will tower over Miami.

^Link

Industrial designer Zhdanova Irina’s self-contained, mobile, huevo-shaped kitchen — dubbed the EGGo — fits a water-reservation tank, a stove, and a sink in its roly-poly frame. (Click the link for more photos.)

^Link

Antique Eggs
Long extinct, here’s the outer husk of an 1895 Cadbury Egg, a specimen that enters the fossil record a mere 16 years after the first White House Easter Egg Roll.

^Link

Hollywood Eggs
These cinephile eggs — previously seen mimicking the world’s scariest Easter Bunny, Frank from Donnie Darko — have recently taken to impersonating WALL-E’s sleek futurebot EVE.

^Link

Imposter Eggs
Much like the luna moth with its predator-spooking eyespots, these strange creatures oh-so-cleverly camouflage themselves as eggs — don’t be fooled!

Cupcake as egg.

^Link

Creme brulee as egg.

^Link

Yarn as egg.

^{Link + instructions}

Pound cake as egg.

^{Link + instructions}

Rice Krispies treats as eggs.

^Link

Not-So-Ancient Eggs
Despite their mind-boggling monikers — Thousand-Year-Old Eggs, or Century Eggs — these exotic edibles are aged no longer than a few months before they take on their strange black-and-amber hue (and strong sulphurous taste).

^{Photo courtesy Fotoos Van Robin}
^Link

X-Ray Eggs
We’re not sure why these ethereal eggs have evolved to sport such porous shells, but they sure are lovely.

^{Link to eggs by Franc Grom}

^{Link to eggs by Ron Cheruka}

Sculpture Eggs
A close relative to the X-Ray Egg, these sculpted beauts may masquerade as houses and baby buggies, but we can see right through them.

^Link

Almost Visible From Space Eggs
Like some kind of physical manifestation of Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, these enormous fried eggs blanketed the Netherlands for six months last year.

^Link

Just Plain Purty Eggs
Though not terribly functional, these eggs turn heads with their stunning plumage.

^Link

^{Link + instructions}

And here’s a far more high-tech species.

^Link

Egg Tracks: A Field Guide to Recognizing Your Egg Cartons
When eggs shed their cartons, they need not make landfills their new natural habitat. Here are a few examples of creative, eco-friendly uses of egg cartons.

Egg cartons = art.

^{Link (plus 20 other interesting green uses)}