Easter Eggs with Natural Dyes

A search for naturally dyed Easter eggs produces A LOT of results and I think that’s great! It was this blog that got me excited about trying it, since she simplified it into recipes. I love the rich colors! I ended up using things I had on hand in the pantry and the freezer. In brief, I boiled the eggs in 2 cups water, 1 Tablespoon white vinegar, and the coloring material for 11 minutes. Then I removed the eggs, strained the dye into a jar, and replaced the eggs. Finally, I let the jars cool, put them in the fridge for about 20 hours, and drained them, letting the eggs dry on paper towels.

Ready to begin. They all smelled delicious while cooking!

Cooling and looking beautiful in the sunlight.

Happy colors!

Yeah, these are dyes--they stain! Next time I will be more careful.

1 cup frozen blueberries

1 Tablespoon dill seed and 1 cup onion skins--my favorite!

1 cup raspberries (to no effect?) and 3/4 teaspoon turmeric.

I am really happy with the results and I look forward to doing it again. Maybe I won't even wait until next Easter, but will work on perfecting my technique (less mess?).  I would have tried more colors but we didn't have many eggs and no immediate gatherings where they can be eaten and not wasted. 

I wouldn’t want eggs to go to waste and what good are natural dyes if you don’t eat the results? So I ate one! I tried the onion/dill seed since that seems like the least scary flavor. There was a faint taste of dill, which was very nice and the egg was delicious with salt and pepper. Of course I’ve already started burping it, but that’s the price I pay :-)

Yum.

Blue looks slightly less appealing, but there was no blueberry flavor.

The little guy liked 'em! And by liked I mean nibbled, squished, smeared, and threw on the floor :-)

I had a hard time throwing away the dyes, thinking I might use them for dying yarn or cloth. But I really wasn't prepared research-wise and I really didn't have enough time, so I put them down the drain. There are certainly more dying materials where they came from!  There are also MANY resources online for using other natural materials as dyes, like this one. 

Which brings to mind... By Annie Claire is a lovely lady who dyes yarn with plants from her land. You should check out her Spring colors; dyed with horsetail, bracken, mint, and daffodils, they are so sweet! And she's having a yarn giveaway!