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Monday 17 June 2013

Inventor creates fool-proof egg separator that sucks the yolk from the white without any mess

Dobbie claims the Yolkr is so easy to use he successfully tested it on his 90-year-old grandfather. There are various tips, tricks and old wives' tales claiming to show the perfect way to separate an egg yolk from its white. 

And now, an entrepreneur from New Zealand may have finally cracked it. 
The Yolkr gadget was created by Hamish Dobbie and acts like a pipette, neatly and quickly slurping up an egg yolk from a bowl before popping it back out in one piece.
Dobbie claims it's faster than any other method available, is more hygienic and can be used by 'shaky 90-year-olds with one eye'.

An entrepreneur from New Zealand has created the Yolkr - an egg separator that looks like a giant pipette and can hygienically suck the yolk from an egg white without any mess
An entrepreneur from New Zealand has created the Yolkr - an egg separator that looks like a giant pipette and can hygienically suck the yolk from an egg white without any mess
The contraption is made from plastic which has been approved by the Food Standards Agency.
The contraption is made from plastic which has been approved by the Food Standards Agency. It costs £18, plus £4 shipping costs, and comes in six colours. The Yolkr was launched as a Kickstarter campaign in January and raised more than three times the target amount

HOW DOES THE YOLKR WORK?

1 Gently squeeze again to place the yolk where you want it.
Crack an egg gently into a bowl - multiple eggs can be cracked into the same bowl as long as they don't split. 
Hold the Yolkr above an egg yolk so it is just touching the surface - be careful not to put too much pressure on and cause the yolk to split. 
Squeeze the coloured flexible plastic part of the Yolkr to such the yolk from the white. 
The yolk will sit in the plastic holder at the bottom of the gadget. 
Place the Yolkr over the mixing bowl or plate where you want the yolk to go and squeeze the Yolkr again to release the yolk.

Hamish's clever contraption promises to be a must-have tool for recipes calling for yolks to be separated from whites including meringue, mousse, souffle and creme brulee.
Egg whites are a main feature of high protein diets while egg white foam features in cocktails such as the pisco sour.
Yolks are used to make mayonnaise, custard and sponge cakes.
Mechanical engineer Hamish came up with the idea last year after watching a friend painstakingly trying to split eggs to make an omelette - and failing.
He launched a Kickstarter campaign that ran from January to March this year in a bid to raise £15,000 to fund the project. 
The campaign raised a total of £43,169 and Dobbie has now announced a stretch target of £80,000 to produce a Yolkr recipe book. 
The Yolkr has been designed to food industry and consumer product standards. 
It is made of plastics that are non-toxic and free of BPA, PVC and phthalate and can be pulled apart for washing. 
Hamish, 30, from Auckland in New Zealand, said: 'The inspiration came from a friend of mine who had been splitting eggs to make an omelette.
Dobbie claims the Yolkr is so easy to use he successfully tested it on his 90-year-old grandfather.
Dobbie claims the Yolkr is so easy to use he successfully tested it on his 90-year-old grandfather. To suck the egg yolk from the white, hold the Yolkr above it and squeeze the coloured plastic top. The yolk will be sucked into the plastic case. Squeeze the Yolkr again to release the yolk
The Yolkr egg separator was the brain-child of mechanical engineer Hamish Dobbie, pictured, from Auckland in New Zealand.
The Yolkr egg separator was the brain-child of 30-year-old mechanical engineer Hamish Dobbie, pictured, from Auckland in New Zealand

'After making a real mess, and having to dig egg shells out of the bowl, she said that there must be a better way of doing it - and that set off a spark.
'I did a little bit of research and came up with a very basic idea for a tool that somehow sucks the yolk out of the white.
'I thought if I could make something that worked well and looked good I could be on to something.
'The trick was getting the shape of the nozzle right so it didn't break the yolk when it was sucked up.
'There were many, many eggs of all shapes and sizes broken in the testing stages, but we got there in the end.
'We got more than a few omelettes out of it.
'The benefits of Yolkr are definitely the cleanliness and the hygiene.
'The traditional ways of splitting eggs involve the yolks and the whites touching hands or the outsides of the shells.
'Yolkr eliminates that. It is a lot quicker and you don't run the risk of breaking the yolk.
'The ultimate test was giving the prototype to my 90-year old grandfather who only has one eye, wears glasses and shakes somewhat.
'On instruction to 'suck the yolk' he successfully did so first time.
'Some people will always stick with traditional methods of splitting eggs but most people we have spoken to about it think it's brilliant.'
The Yolkr costs £18, plus £4 shipping, and is now available to pre-order.
It is due to hit the shelves in the UK later this month. 

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