Egg Dyeing — Naturally

Colored Easter eggs have been around far longer than Paas dye tablets. Water and vinegar are still used in today’s commercial dyes, but instead of chemical tablets, people used foods & spices to color their eggs. Imagine never again worrying if the egg is safe to eat because a tiny bit of dye seeped through a crack and now your child is happily munching away at that colored stripe of egg. The colors may be a bit softer, and the process may take a bit longer, but if anything that should be welcomed as more time with your family engaged in a fun and healthy activity.

There are two ways to dye eggs using natural ingredients: Hot dye and cold dye. For each method, make sure you wash uncooked eggs in soap and water and handle with gloves while dying to avoid transferring oils from your skin which will prevent the dye from sticking. Gloves (and newspaper on your table) will also help the dyes stay exclusively on your eggs. Finish up by rubbing a small amount of oil into the dried, colored eggs for a faint sheen or leave plain for a matte look.

Hot Dyeing Method

This method uses the time spent boiling the eggs to simultaneously dye them. Simply place your eggs in a non-aluminum pan, and add water, vinegar & dyeing ingredients (see below). Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 to 30 minutes. The longer you leave the eggs in the water, the darker the color will be, but the tougher the eggs will be as well. To get darker colors while leaving the eggs soft, try the…

Cold Dyeing Method

This method starts with pre-boiled eggs. Add water, vinegar, and dyeing ingredients to a pan, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for at least 15 minutes or until desired color is reached. Strain the mixture and let cool. Add cooked eggs to dye for at least 15 minutes. For exceptionally rich colors, put in refrigerator overnight.

Alterations & Decorations

Tie-Dye: Rub clean, uncooked eggs with vinegar, wrap in onion skins, bind with kitchen string or rubber bands and simmer for 20 minutes.

Stripes: Wrap rubber bands around un-dyed eggs before dying for white stripes, or around dyed eggs before re-dying in a different dye for colored stripes.

Patterns: Wrap egg in onion skin or small leaves after dyeing but before completely dried for texture; use clean sponge to dab at dyed egg while still wet for stippling; or use clean, dry cloth to wipe some of the dye from the egg before drying.

Marbleized: Stir a tablespoon of oil into dye mixture for marbling effect. Once dry, re-dye for added variation.

Mosaic: Glue bits of your spices (star anise, peppercorns, powdered spices) or other small food items such as alphabet pasta or grains of rice to your egg for added variety.

Natural Dye Recipes

1 Tbsp. Spices, or 4 c. chopped fruits or vegetables
4 c. water
2 Tbsp. white vinegar

Combine ingredients in a pot, bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 15 to 30 minutes. For richer colors, use more spice/food item and/or boil longer.

Colors

Pink/Red: Fresh beets, pickled beet juice, pickled red cabbage juice, cranberries, frozen raspberries

Orange: Yellow onion skins, paprika

Deep Yellow: Ground turmeric

Pale Yellow to Light Green: Spinach leaves, Golden Delicious apple peels

Soft Yellow: Orange or lemon peels, carrot tops or shredded carrots, celery seed, ground cumin

Purple: Red Zinger® tea (or other hibiscus tea)

Blue: Canned blueberries, blackberries, red cabbage leaves, purple grape juice

Beige to Brown: strong brewed coffee, tea, walnuts, dill seeds

Brown to Orange: Chili powder, ground cumin