Here’s how to dye Easter eggs with spices, vegetables, and pantry ingredients in your kitchen! It’s fun and something different.
The Easter egg symbolizes new life and coloring eggs is a longtime tradition. This year, try something different. Instead of using artificial dyes, try dyeing eggs the old-fashioned way—with spices, food, and plants!
It’s neat (not to mention educational) to see how different foods create different colors; the eggs “transform” without a magic wand!
Natural Dye Colors
Here are some vegetables that produce more vivid colors. Per one cup of water, use:
Two teaspoons ground tumeric to turn eggs yellow.
One cup shredded beets to turn eggs pink.
One cup chopped purple cabbage to turn eggs blue.
One cup red onion skins to turn eggs red or purple.
One bag of black tea to turn eggs brown.
One cup of chopped yellow onion skins to turn eggs orange.
Also try coffee, paprika, and blueberries—which readers say make beautiful colors!
How to Dye Eggs Naturally
Eggs need to be at room temperature. (Take hard-boiled eggs out of refrigerator about 20 minutes before you need them.)
Note: For every dozen eggs, you’ll need four cups of dyed water. So, select four different dyes from the ingredient list above (or, make one big batch of one color).
Bring the water and ingredients mixture to a boil, and then turn down the heat to simmer the ingredient for about 30 minutes.
Add 1 to 2 teaspoons of white vinegar to help the egg shell absorb the dye.
Dip the eggs into the lukewarm solution. The longer they are saturated in the dyed water, the more vivid the color. We prefer to let the eggs sit overnight in the liquid bath to steep. If you only have 30 minutes, see what color they turn in that amount of time!
Let the eggs dry, and then massage in a little vegetable oil to each one and polish with a towel.
Now, you can hide the colored ggs, eat the eggs, or use them as pretty decorations on Easter Day! Keep them cool in the refrigerator before you eat them!
Here’s another idea that the older kids especially love—tie dye!
Hard-boil some large white eggs (use brown eggs for darker colors) and allow them to cool.
One way to color an egg with an interesting tie-dyed effect is to wrap a number of long rubber bands of various widths around the egg, covering the entire egg.
The rubber bands should be long enough to wrap around the egg a couple of times. (If the bands keep popping off, don’t wrap them quite so tightly, or use thicker bands.)
Dip the egg into homemade or store-bought dye.
Remove from dye and let dry.
Remove some or all of the rubber bands, then wrap them around the egg again and soak it in a different color until you have the shade you want.
Allow to dry and remove the rubber bands. You should now have a uniquely interesting egg.
Another way to create a tie-dyed look is by wrapping and twisting damp strips of cloth tightly around an egg.
Drop different colors of dye onto the cloth and let the colors blend together.
Let the egg sit until the cloth is dry, then carefully unwrap the egg.
http://www.almanac.com/content/how-d...eggs-naturally