Today, we are offering ideas on how to make natural Easter egg dyes to create homemade decorated Easter eggs the old fashion way. It’s a great way to have wholesome fun with your young ones. So before the egg hunt, take them for a easter egg dye hunt in the pantry. They may find just the food or spice they’ll need to create their favorite colored Easter eggs. Enjoy and happy hunting!
Pantry items and corresponding Easter egg color:
- Coffee or tea (strongly brewed) – Brown
- Red onion skin – Purple
- Shredded red cabbage – Blue
- Turmeric – Yellow
- Whole beets – Pink
- Yellow onion skin – Orange
You will need the following the get started:
- White eggs (better than brown eggs for dyeing purposes)
- Vinegar (to ensure proper adhesion of the natural dye to the eggs) — more vinegar will result in darker and deeper color
- Water
Directions
- Fill pots (non aluminum) with 1 quart of water (enough to cover the eggs and natural dye ingredients) and white vinegar (about 2 TBSP). If you need more liquid, keep in mind the ratio should be 2 TBSP of vinegar for every quart of water.
- Add eggs and dyeing natural ingredients. For brown Easter eggs, skip the water and use 1 quart of coffee or tea instead. For purple Easter eggs, use the dry outer skin of about 8 red onions. For blue Easter eggs, add a small head of shredded red cabbage. For golden yellow Easter eggs, add about 3 TBSP of turmeric. For pink Easter eggs, cut 2 beets in small pieces (whole beets – canned beets make the eggs too pale). For orange Easter eggs, add the dry outer skin of about 8 yellow onions.
- Bring each pot with dyeing edible ingredients to a boil.
- Boil eggs for 20 minutes stirring from time to time. For a darker color, you can keep them 30 minutes but the eggs will be overcooked so it may not be as enjoyable to eat.
A FEW SUGGESTIONS
- Serve onion soup the week before Easter and save your onion skins.
- Experiment: mix natural ingredients or dip your Easter eggs in several dyeing pots to discover which color you’ll get. For example, to get earthy green colored Easter eggs, simply double dip your eggs by having them soak in the turmeric dye (yellow) and also in the red cabbage pot (blue).
- Shine: keep in mind that Easter eggs that are dyed with natural ingredients may not turn as shinny. If you prefer a shinny sheen to your Easter eggs, simply rub them with olive oil or other cooking oil.
- Drying Easter eggs: save the egg cartons and use them to hold the Eater eggs as they are drying.