April 2, 2015

Natural Easter Egg Dyes

Natural dye, Easter Egg, Dye,  天然, 染料, 復活節, 彩蛋, recipe, instruction,  food dye, beets, tumeric

Winter fades and Spring is here!  And Easter is coming up!  Easter bunnies and creamy chocolates and Easter eggs!  This year we made some gorgeous (we think!) natural dye easter eggs for my little girl to take to her class to share with her schoolmates.   

It takes a bit of time to make these natural dye easter eggs but it's an easy, fun project to do together with your kid or just for kicks.  And healthier cuz you're just using natural food dyes to color the eggs.  How cool is that!

Natural dye, Easter Egg, Dye,  天然, 染料, 復活節, 彩蛋, recipe, instruction,  food dye, beets, tumeric

To make our easter eggs super beautiful we imprinted flowers and leaf patterns on the sides of our white eggs.  You can use all kinds of things to make an imprint like stickers, rubber bands, bits of leafy herbs, ferns, grass, lace, anything really that you can wrap around the egg.  I like the flower patterns best, they just look so lovely.

Natural dye, Easter Egg, Dye,  天然, 染料, 復活節, 彩蛋, recipe, instruction,  food dye, beets, tumeric

Your pattern/imprint makers are then secured tight against the eggs with panty hose.  I had to run around to a couple of places to find full length pantyhose.  What happened to pantyhose anyways?  They used to be so ubiquitous.  So anyways, dig in your closet for an old pair or two!  We used up two pairs of full length pantyhose for wrapping 24 eggs.

Natural dye, Easter Egg, Dye,  天然, 染料, 復活節, 彩蛋, recipe, instruction,  food dye, beets, tumeric

Here is our first natural dye, a lovely golden yellow made using the spice turmeric.  I'm sure you will know how much tumeric stains if you've ever cooked with it before.  So it's perfect for using as a dye!  Just be careful not to spill while using tumeric.  It's quite hard to clean off.  

Natural dye, Easter Egg, Dye,  天然, 染料, 復活節, 彩蛋, recipe, instruction,  food dye, beets, tumeric

We made a second color using beets to make a lovely dusty pink color.  Natural red coloring is harder to achieve, we've tried lots of time to make a deeper pink or red color but it's harder than other colors.  I had trouble getting the beautiful red dye in the pot to stick to the egg, even after boiling and then sitting in the dye for hours.  

Finally I added extra vinegar and put the eggs in the fridge for a couple of hours and that helped to set the color.  I think that if you have time to leave them in the fridge even longer the color will be even deeper.

These are the different natural food dye we have tried:
  1. Beets - makes a dusty pink color
  2. Tumeric - makes a golden yellow
  3. Red Cabbage (also known as Purple Cabbage) - makes a beautiful blue
  4. Yellow Onion Skins - makes a reddish brown
To see the results of Red Cabbage and Onion Skins as easter egg dye and how to make dinosaur patterned easter eggs see our previous Easter Egg Natural Dye post.  Or if you want to have natural dye but don't have the time to make it you can try this natural Easter egg coloring kit.

Hope you like our Natural Dye Easter Eggs!  Happy Easter to everyone!

Natural dye, Easter Egg, Dye,  天然, 染料, 復活節, 彩蛋, recipe, instruction,  food dye, beets, tumeric
Natural Easter Egg Dye Recipe
(Prep time: 5 mins)

Wrapped Patterned Eggs Instruction

  • 24 white eggs
  • 2 full length pantyhose
  • Pattern/imprint makers

Directions:

Snip off the legs of the panty hose.  Cut each leg into 6 equal pieces.  Tie off one end securely with a knot to form a pantyhose bag.

Use one hand to hold open the bag and place egg and whatever you are using to make pattern/imprint inside.  The pattern/imprint side should face towards the egg.  When you have your pattern/imprint makers places where you like, gather up the pantyhose and tie tightly against the egg.  It is important that it be tightly tied so that the pattern/imprint makers are held securely against the egg shell while cooking.  

Repeat for all the eggs.

Dusty Pink Easter Eggs Dye Method
(Prep time: 1 min  Cook time: 1 hour   Setting time: 4 hours)

Ingredients:

  • 12 wrapped eggs
  • 2 beets, peeled and diced
  • 4 cups water
  • 3 tbsp vinegar

Directions:

Add water to large pot and heat til boiling.  Add beets and 1 tbsp vinegar and simmer for 30 minutes.

Lower the heat to lowest setting, add 2 tbsp vinegar and gently add in wrapped eggs.  Slowly turn up heat until simmering and cook eggs for 30 minutes.  Be sure to turn the eggs often so as to have even coloring.

When cooled down, put in the fridge for a few hours or overnight, again turning eggs every so often.  When you think the dye color is to your liking, remove pantyhose and pattern makers.  

Set into an empty egg shell carton to dry.  When completely dry, rub very gently with some vegetable oil until shiny.

Yellow Easter Egg Dye Method
(Prep time: 30 mins  Cook time: 15 mins   Setting time: 4 hours)

Ingredients:


Directions:

Add water to large pot and heat til boiling.  Add tumeric and 1 tbsp vinegar and simmer for 3 minutes. 

Lower the heat to lowest setting and gently add in wrapped eggs.  Slowly turn up heat until simmering and cook eggs for 12 minutes.  Be sure to turn the eggs often so as to have even coloring.  

Let cool down.  When cooled  and the dye color is to your liking, remove pantyhose and pattern makers.  Set into an empty egg shell carton to dry.  When completely dry, rub very gently with some vegetable oil until shiny.

Put all your gorgeous eggs in a lovely Easter egg basket and you're all ready to be the Easter Bunny!

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