Green Eggs (No Ham)
We just had to pass along this all natural Easter egg idea from this month’s Ladies’ Home Journal (what? Heidi Klum was on the cover… she sucked me in). And I’m glad that she did because they compiled a little list of foods & spices that can be used to create all natural Easter egg dyes! Apparently all you have to do is add two cups of water and two tablespoons of white vinegar to the ingredients below for some eco-friendly egg decorating:
- For orange dye, use 2 tablespoons of paprika.
- Feeling blue? Try 1 and a half cups of blueberries.
- For pink, use 1 cup of chopped fresh beets.
- Keen for green? Use 1 cup of blueberries & 2 tablespoons of turmeric.
To make the dye bath, bring the ingredients to a boil and remove ‘em from heat. Cool and strain the liquid into a medium bowl and submerge 4 to 6 hard-cooked eggs into the dye for up to 30 minutes, depending on how deep you want the color to be (soft subtle tones look sweet too!). Remove the eggs from the dye and place them on a cooling rack to dry and drain. Then just pop them in the fridge until they’re ready to use.
We love this idea! And imagine how fun it’ll be for kiddos (and grown-ups alike) to play with veggies, fruits and spices as well as eggs. It’s a smorgasbord of Easter fun and it’s good clean fun at that (no artificial ingredients required). Happy (yes I did just resist the urge to write “hoppy”) Easter everyone!
Image courtesy of Free Digital Photos
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Comments
I dunno, it seems like a waste of blueberries to me…
Though this is a better use for beets than eating them.
my family did this growing up, we used onion skins are a pretty tan/brown color :)
Sherry,
I’ve been doing this for years since I saw it in a Martha Stewart magazine. They are totally cute. Check out this link for some more color options.
Dianne
Hey Barbara,
That’s just a picture that I found with green eggs in it. I believe those eggs were speckled to begin with, so the brown spots remained while the green dye turned the white part of the shell green. Hope it helps!
xo,
Sherry
To make speckles like those eggs, melt a tablespoon of chocolate chips, dip an old toothbrush in it and “spray” the eggs by running a finger along the bristles ;)
I’ve been doing this with onion skins as well. Red onions make an interesting purply-brown color. And instead of soaking the eggs in a dye created by the skins, I wrap the skins around my eggs, wrap loosely with foil, and drop into boiling water. They come out with a neat crinkly irregular look, so cool.
What a great idea–I’m definitely doing this, too!