Dyeing Easter Eggs the Natural Way

For Easter this year, we turned to Maria Helm Sinskey, along with her daughters and their friends, to help us create something a little extra special: naturally dyed Easter eggs. Author of Family Meals, Maria is a devoted mother, noted chef, and Culinary Director at her family’s winery, Robert Sinskey Vineyards, in Napa Valley, California. She believes strongly in the importance of the family table and eating locally and organically.

 

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These jewel-colored eggs are so beautiful that we often have egg dyeing get-togethers with our friends and their kids to make them. And you don’t have to rely on commercial products to create them, either. Your refrigerator and pantry hold a cornucopia of fruits, vegetables, and spices that can be turned into a rainbow of distinctive dyes.

 

You will need patience to produce intensely colored eggs with natural dyes, however. They act more slowly than commercial products, so you need to drop the eggs into the dye and then find an activity to keep everyone busy while the egg shells absorb the color. The first time we made these, my daughters couldn’t resist hanging over the bowls of dye and rolling the eggs around, so their hands ended up as dyed as the eggs.

 

Creating Natural Dyes:

 

Robin’s Egg Blue

• 2 cups (6 oz./185 g.) coarsely chopped red cabbage
• 2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

 

Vivid Pink

• 2 large beets, peeled and shredded
• 2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

 

Tropical Orange

• 2 cups (1 oz./30 g.) loosely packed yellow onion skins
• 2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

 

Spicy Yellow

• 1 tablespoon ground turmeric
• a big pinch of saffron threads
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar

 

For blue, pink, orange, or yellow, combine the ingredients along with 4 cups (32 fl. oz.) water in a pan and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 20 minutes to extract the color and reduce the liquid. Let cool and strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Add cold water to bring the total to 3 cups (24 fl. oz./ 750 ml.), if necessary.

 

Deep Purple

• 1 cup (8 fl. oz./250 ml.) thawed frozen Concord grape juice concentrate
• 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
• 3 cups (24 fl. oz./750 ml.) water

 

For purple, simply stir the ingredients together in a bowl.

 

The Equipment You’ll Need:

• 2 dozen large, white, organic eggs
• a large pot
• 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
• natural dyes
• as many bowls as you have different dyes
• newspapers
• old clothes to wear
• 2 empty egg cartons
• slotted spoons
• white wax birthday candles and/or crayons

 

Step 1: Boil the Eggs Place the eggs in the pot with 4 quarts cold water and add the vinegar. Set a timer for 16 minutes. Bring the eggs to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer until the timer goes off. Remove from the heat, let rest 5 minutes, drain, let the eggs sit in cold water 10 minutes, then drain.

Step 2: Get Ready! Make the dyes as directed above, then pour each dye into its own bowl. Protect the work surface with newspapers, and make sure everyone wears old clothes—natural dyes stain, too. Line up the bowls on the work surface, and place the empty egg cartons nearby.

Step 3: Draw on Your Eggs Use a white wax birthday candle to mark the egg anywhere you don’t want the dye to stick. Write a name or draw a zigzag and it will remain white when you dye the egg. Use crayons if you want a color other than white.

Step 4: Dye Your Eggs Place the eggs in the dyes until they are a hue you like, usually 20–30 minutes. Using the slotted spoons, lift the eggs out of the dye and place them in the egg cartons. Allow the eggs to sit until dry, about 1 hour, before handling.