I decided
the day before Easter that I wanted to try my hand at dying our Easter eggs naturally this year. We don't usually do egg dying, but I saw this article by
The Eco Chic in
Kaia Magazine (it's online, check it out!) as well as people pinning 'Natural Egg Dying' recipes on Pinterest, so I was curious and decided to give it a go. I have to say I was a little skeptical at first, but I was thrilled with the results. This is what I did:
I gathered together some of the suggested fruits/vegetables/spices that would make the most impact and variety of color.
We chose spinach, blueberries, strawberries, turmeric, cayenne pepper, paprika, and coffee (not pictured).
I placed the eggs in pots with the ingredients and covered them with water.
Pictured are: strawberries, turmeric, blueberries, and spinach. I had to do coffee and paprika/cayenne pepper in the second batch.
Boil for fifteen minutes (until eggs are cooked), then pour in some white vinegar to make the colors more bold. I didn't measure, but I would guess 2-3 Tbs per pot.
Don't forget the vinegar - it makes the color pop!
Then let the eggs sit in the mixture for as long as you want. I let my first batch sit for about six hours and the second for about three.
This is what they looked like at the end:
We have lots of minerals in our water which made some of the eggs have a crystallized look.
Want to know which color belongs to which fruit/veggie/spice? Here you go!
I hope you will consider dying your eggs with natural ingredients next year. I feel much better about feeding these to my family than the commercially dyed ones. It was so fun to chose different ingredients and be surprised at how they turned out. The possibilities are endless!