ABSTRACTDuck egg yolk pickled by salt attained more desirable characteristics, such as orange color, oil exudate, and grittiness, than salted chicken egg yolk. Salted duck egg yolk reached a hardening ratio of 90% in 28‐days; 35 days were required for the salted chicken egg yolk to achieve the same hardening. Moisture content of egg yolk affected the quantity of extracted lipid, an index of oil exudation. The moisture content of duck egg yolk was 19%, and the extracted lipid was 30%. But less than 4% lipid was extracted when moisture content was >27.5%. Under scanning electron microscopy, yolk spheres dominated the yolk structure probably responsible for the gritty texture.