Look at these beautiful eggs! Here are some simple ideas on coloring eggs naturally. First, remember to start with hard boiled eggs. The best way I’ve found to hard boil eggs comes from the Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook: place eggs in a pot and cover with cold water. Bring to rapid boil over medium high heat. Remove from heat. Cover and let sit for 15 minutes. Then drain carefully, so as not to crack the shells, since you’ll be dying them.
Next, from “Two Men and a Little Farm” Blog, boil 2 cups of water with the following ingredient combinations, depending on what color you like, for 30-60 minutes, until it reaches your desired color. Then strain and add 1 cup of colored water and 1 Tbsp. of vinegar to a cup to dip the eggs in. Drain on paper towels and store in refrigerator.
Here’s the color chart.
|
Color
|
Ingredients
|
| Lavender | Small Amount of Purple Grape Juice Violet Flowers + 2 tsp Lemon Juice Red Zinger Tea bags (Celestial Seasoning brand) |
| Violet Blue | Violet Flowers (no lemon juice) Red Onion Skins (boiled) Red Wine Hibiscus Tea |
| Blue | Canned Blueberries Large Amount of Purple Grape Juice Red Cabbage Leaves (boiled) |
| Green | Spinach Leaves (boiled) Fresh Basil (boiled) |
| Greenish Yellow | Yellow Delicious Apple Peels (boiled) Fresh Parsley (boiled) |
| Yellow | Chamomile Tea Orange or Lemon Peels (boiled) Celery Seed (boiled) Ground Cumin (boiled) Ground Turmeric (boiled) Green Tea Carrot Tops (boiled) |
| Golden Brown | Dill Seeds |
| Brown | Strong or Instant Coffee Black Walnut Shells (boiled) Black Tea |
| Orange | Yellow Onion Skins (boiled) Carrots (boiled) Paprika Chili Powder |
| Pink | Red Grape Juice Fresh Cranberries / Cranberry Juice Raspberries Beets Juice from jar of Pickled Beets |
| Red |
Lots of Red Onions Skins (boiled)
Canned Cherries with Juice Pomegranate Juice Raspberries |
Note that any combination of the “Ingredients” list will give the desired color; you don’t have to use all of the ingredients to make it work. Also, this is a great way to use the scraps from your basket after you’ve enjoyed the goodness – peels, rinds, skins, etc. work perfectly for this – and you can still compost them after they’ve been boiled.
Have fun! And if you’re really creative, consider hand dying tea clothes for Easter gifts using the same colored water.
– This is so funny, I eat hard boiled eggs every once in awihle on my salads. But Kelsey LOVES eggs and I have been meaning to make her hard boiled to see if she likes them. I never seem to get it just right. I will write this down and hopefully be as lucky as you to make the perfect hard boiled egg! Thanks!
– Sadly, my kids have never dyed eggs, and I have NEVER boiled an egg. I would eat them, but noone else here would. They’ll be dying eggs at a nihegbor’s tomorrow so they get the fun w/out me having to figure out how to do it!