A girl looks at a pot of regular hard-boiled eggs, next to a pot of hard-boiled eggs cooked in boys' urine in Dongyang, Zhejiang province March 26, 2012. It's the end of a school day in the eastern Chinese city of Dongyang, and eager parents collect their children after a hectic day of primary school. But that's just the start of busy times for dozens of egg vendors across the city, deep in coastal Zhejiang province, who ready themselves to cook up a unique springtime snack favoured by local residents. Picture taken March 26, 2012.Reuters
A girl looks at a pot of regular hard-boiled eggs, next to a pot of hard-boiled eggs cooked in boys' urine in Dongyang, Zhejiang province March 26, 2012. It's the end of a school day in the eastern Chinese city of Dongyang, and eager parents collect their children after a hectic day of primary school. But that's just the start of busy times for dozens of egg vendors across the city, deep in coastal Zhejiang province, who ready themselves to cook up a unique springtime snack favoured by local residents. Picture taken March 26, 2012.Reuters51-year-old vendor Ge Yaohua (R) looks at a customer pointing at a pot of hard-boiled eggs cooked in boys' urine in Dongyang, Zhejiang province.ReutersPrimary school toilet ChinaReutersA boy urinates into a container outside a toilet at a primary school in DongyangReutersA vendor pours a bucket of boys' urine into a pot of hard-boiled eggsReutersUrine-soaked eggReutersUrine-soaked eggsReutersBoys' urine bucketsReuters51-year-old vendor Ge Yaohua eats a hard-boiled egg cooked in boys' urineReuters
Shocked with the concept of urine-soaked eggs? Don't be: it's a popular springtime snack for residents of China's coastal Zhejiang province.
Young boys, preferably below the age of 10, douse the eggs with urine collected from primary school toilets.
Popularly known as "virgin boy eggs", it takes nearly an entire day to marinade them. The raw eggs are soaked and then boiled in a pot of wee. Gradually, the shells of the hard-boiled eggs crack allowing the egg white to absorb the urine for hours.
Fresh urine is poured in at intervals and the temperature is strictly controlled to keep the eggs from overcooking.
This snack is believed to have medicinal properties, allegedly easing aches in waists, legs and joints, increasing stamina and immunity from heatstroke.
