I always loved dying eggs for Easter as a kid. I'm 22 now, and I still love it! I even manage to get the Man to join me in egg coloring every year, it gives us a chance to be creative together, gives us time to talk, and we both get some level of joy from seeing our creations. I don't think a person should ever feel 'too old' to do anything, especially dying Easter eggs.
This year I decided to try something different than standard dyes, joining in on a trend I've been seeing growing on food blogs - Natural egg dying. Meaning instead of using chemical colors, you use natural ingredients (veggies, fruits, spices) to get gorgeous eggs.
This is a little more time consuming than the artificial way, but I'm really happy with the way my eggs turned out.
I did four colors - blue, green, brown, and pink.
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| Left to Right - Dyed 1 hour, Dyed 2 hours, Dyed 3 hours |
Blue - Red Cabbage. This is my favorite dye, and seemed to be the quickest-setting. I left the three eggs in the dye for different lengths of time, the longer you leave it in the richer the color will get. The deepest blue is gorgeous, however I LOVE the lightest blue the best.
I noticed that the light blue was the only one to get little dark specs on it. Gorgeous!
Green - Spinach. I'm not sure if it's because I didn't use enough spinach, didn't boil it long enough, or if spinach dye typically just takes more time, but these seemed to take FOREVER to get to where they are. I finally removed them from the dye after 3 hours, and I am really happy with the shade they became.
Light Brown - Coffee. I chose brown because it's not a color of egg you usually see for Easter, and 'cause I had plenty of coffee on hand. This was the easiest dye to make, but also took 3 hours to get to the shade shown.
Pink - Strawberry preserves. Usually beets, or cranberry juice are used to make pink/red. I had neither. I wanted to try something that I haven't seen done, I took a few Tablespoons of strawberry preserves and boiled it with a cup or so of water. Not a very good idea, as it didn't really work that well. The pink is a lot more pale than I would like, but still looks pretty. One thing I did notice, and really like, about this color is that the eggs smell like strawberries! None of the other eggs smell like their color. I like it.
So, there you have it. My first experience dying eggs using natural ingredients. I think it worked really well, and I'll definitely try it again next year using the onion skin method. My favorite thing about these eggs is how uneven some of the color was. The finished eggs had lines, spots, and blotches of uneven color shades which I find even better than a smooth even finish. However, if you prefer a more even shade, you would just boil your eggs in the dye instead of cold dipping them like I did.
I do still plan on coloring eggs the old fashioned way with the Man. It's become a tradition for the two of us, and I want to keep it going. I'll be sure to post pictures. :)
Here are some really helpful sites with great information for dying eggs naturally.
Serious Eats - Gorgeous onion skin method!
Darling, your eggs are simply marvelous! The blue ones are making me week in the knees they are so freaking gorgeous. Well done Jess!
ReplyDeleteI love the way your dyed those eggs with natural ingredients! I never would have guessed you used red cabbage for the blue ones. That is so cool. I agree that nobody is ever too old to dye eggs :)
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot Susi! The blue was definitely my favorite. Very pretty color.
ReplyDeleteThanks Katie! :D
These are gorgeous!! Awesome idea!! And I love the light blue the best too - reminds me of a robin's egg. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteNice!!!
ReplyDeleteI think adding some vinegar to the red cabbage juice will bring it to be really pink(instead of using strawberry) as the pigments in the cabbage reacts differently to different Ph levels.
Adding a pinch of baking soda to the spinach juice will retain it's "greeness".
I'll try your method next year as I'm too too tired this year.
Those eggs are beautiful! I never dyed eggs the natural way! I must try it now!
ReplyDeleteThey look beautiful! I've never heard of dying eggs naturally before. The dark blue one is my favorite, but I love the specks on the light blue. Have a happy Easter!
ReplyDeleteThis is so awesome, I'm all for natural as much as possible. I seldom use artificial food coloring, and if I do, maybe only a drop or two; it's not good for kids. In my culture we color eggs in onion peel, and they come out beautiful dark red, and we decorate them with leaves impressions. Think I posted about it long ago...I especially like your blue eggs, will definitely try this, thank you for sharing, and visiting today :)
ReplyDeleteCan you believe I've never dyed eggs for easter?? haha. They look fantastic though! Love how it's all made from stuff on hand and natural!
ReplyDeletemolto molto belle queste uova,anche io le lavoro cosi'!
ReplyDeleteSuch a great idea! I wish I had read this earlier-- I spent the day dying eggs with my son the chemical way ;)
ReplyDeleteSo cool! I like the idea of natural dyes for kids way better. Great idea
ReplyDeleteI just found these pictures a year after you posted them, almost in time for another Easter. My grandma used to do her eggs in natural colors every year (at least some were) because that's how they did them growing up during and after the Great Depression. Beets make awesome pinkish-purple eggs, the spice turmeric makes AWESOME bright yellow eggs. They are amazingly bright, like a yellow school bus! Brown onion skins make an awesome color of brown, much more vibrant and deep than the coffee eggs. Red onion skins do the same thing but I cannot remember what color they make - magenta if I remember right. Her spinach eggs were darker but she put a lot of vinegar in them to get them that color. I want to try the red cabbage blue eggs, they are gorgeous! Thanks!
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