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Natural dyes require that most eggs be kept soaking in natural dye for hours to develop the color desired. Although coloring eggs with natural dyes can be a long process, it is fun to watch as the colors develop from these natural dyes. Because natural dyes require that most hard boiled eggs be kept soaking in natural dye for hours to develop the color desired, the eggs should not be eaten after sitting at room temperature for that length of time. It is advisable to hard boil extra eggs specifically for eating and refrigerate those eggs immediately for safe storage.
Coloring the Eggs with Natural Dyes
Coloring the Easter Eggs with natural dyes is a great method to use for anyone that is interested in using more natural products in their daily living but keep in mind that just because you are using natural products for dyeing the eggs does not make this an organic method. To qualify as organic, the eggs and any food used for the dye would have to be organic. To select dye colors, refer to the chart below to find the natural product to use in order to get the desired color. In most cases it is necessary to boil the natural product in a small amount of water to produce the dye required. After creating the dye, strain the dye mixture of all solids and allow the water to cool. Add two to three teaspoons of white vinegar per cup of dye. Submerge each egg in the dye and allow the colors to set until the desired color is achieved. Other products, such as the grape juice, canned blueberries, raspberries, and many other foods can be used in their natural or processed form to create the dyes. Simply place the eggs into each dye created by the foods selected.
| Pink |
Beets or cranberries
or
Soak hard boiled eggs in deep red fruit juice.
or
Soak in frozen raspberries that have been pureed. |
| Red |
Red is a difficult color to create in your kitchen. Save red onion skins and boil with eggs for 1 hour. If you would like a deeper red, remove from stove and leave egg in water overnight. |
| Purple |
Soak hard boiled eggs in purple juice, such as grape juice. |
| Yellow |
Turmeric spice
or
Ground cumin
or
Yellow apple peels |
| Green |
Boil eggs with spinach leaves. |
| Blue |
Soak in canned blueberries or pureed frozen blueberries. |
| Brown |
Strong brewed coffee
or
Chili Powder |
If you prefer to decorate eggs without using a colored dye, consider any of the following creative ideas, but after decorating do not eat these eggs:
- Using clear drying glue, decoupage paper or colorful string around each egg.
- Color hard boiled eggs with felt markers or colorful stamps and stickers.
- Use glitter glue for the look of jewels or glue craft jewels on hard boiled eggs.
- Decorate with "puffy" paints and create colorful designs.
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