For Easter this year, the family and I decided
to take a stab at dying our eggs natural-style. I'd heard horror stories
like:
It takes FOREVER to make the dye
Boiling the cabbage stinks up the house
The dye doesn't stick to the eggs
It's too complicated a job for the young kids to
help out
Honestly, I found the process to be really
simple and a ton more fun then dropping little tablets into water
and vinegar.
Step 1: Go to the store and buy your
supplies.
We put Zoey in charge of gathering the few items
we did not already have on hand at the house.
Below is the
information we used to determine our shopping list.
|
Natural
Colorant
|
Egg
Color
|
Directions
|
Hints
|
|
turmeric
powder
|
bright
yellow to deep gold
|
Put
-1-2 tsp. ground turmeric powder in heat proof cup. Fill 2/3 full with boiling
water. Add 1 tsp. white vinegar.
|
Works
quickly.
Turmeric stains so be careful. Wipe dusty spice residue from eggs. |
|
chopped
red cabbage
|
blue/teal
|
Put
2-3 tbsps. chopped red cabbage in heat safe cup. Add boiling water. Add 1 tsp.
white vinegar.
|
Let
sit overnight.
Avoid excess handling. |
|
onion
skins, yellow
|
light
peach to gold/orange
|
Use
1 large handful of onion skin for each cup of water. Simmer 20 minutes then add
1 tsp. of white vinegar.
|
A
perennial favorite.
Easy. |
|
grape
juice/Red Wine
|
blue
to purple
|
Add
1 cup frozen juice concentrate to 1 tsp. vinegar.
|
Eggs
may be simmered right in the juice to cook.
|
|
grated
red beets
|
magenta
red
|
Put
2-4 tbsps. freshly grated beets in heat safe cup. Fill 2/3 with boiling water.
Add 1 tsp. white vinegar.
|
Speckled
design.
Dye may be strained before use. Orange beets may be used to obtain saffron color. |
|
red
cabbage & turmeric
|
green
|
Pour
scant tsp. of turmeric and 2-3 tbsps. of chopped red cabbage in a heat safe cup
then add boiling water.
|
Speckled
design.
Wipe vegetable off with damp cloth. |
|
red
cabbage & beet
|
purple
|
Put
2 tbsps. grated beet and 2 tbsps. red cabbage in heat safe cup. Add boiling
water.
|
Striking
and intense.
|
Step 2: Prepare to
Dye (TIP: Brush the egg with Vinegar before dying. It helps to make the
color stick better)
Zoey helped put the
eggs in the pot and fill it with water. To get our eggs ever so perfect, we used
a Norpro Egg Rite timer. I love that thing.
Next, I poured grape juice
concentrate into a cup with vinegar. Zoey enjoyed dying her first egg in the
juice while Henry and I prepared for our other dyes.
We grated beets
(Red) and chopped up cabbage (Blue).
We took the onion
skins we'd collected over the previous week and boiled them in water to make our
orange.
Step 3: Put out
your cups and make the Dye
We didn't have to
boil anything for hours. Aside from the 20 minutes it took to make the orange,
onion skin dye, everything else was as easy as putting ingredients in the cup,
adding a couple tablespoons vinegar and hot water, then stirring. Zoey was able
to help out with nearly every step. And she only cracked two eggs.
I Love That: RED
cabbage Looks PURPLE and makes purple dye, yet the eggs turn
BLUE.
The yellow, orange, purple and red eggs were done on the spot. The Blue and green, however, were placed in a sealed container and left in the fridge overnight. It was so much fun anticipating the deep Blue and Green eggs we would have in the morning. When Zoey woke up, the first thing she wanted to do was check the fridge for our eggs. (I must say, I was really excited too!)
The colors turned out so earthy and warm. I'm very excited to do this again next year. Next year, Ethan will be able to get more involved and we will have a new little one who can share in the fun as well. ; - D
