Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs

This is VERY cool however I cannot take credit. It came from another blog I frequent, Weelicious.

I love all food-related things associated with holidays, but dyeing easter eggs is an especially favorite activity for me. This isn’t exactly a cooking activity for younger kids, but I think it’s close enough to qualify. Like most kids, I grew up using Paas Easter egg dyes. I realize it’s a lot easier using dye kits, but I think doing it the natural way is so much more fun, healthy and natural and it’s a great way to use some of the spices that have been in the cabinet for a while.

You should have seen our kitchen stove, covered with pots brimming over with all kinds of cool color concoctions. We tried everything from juices, to spices, to frozen berries, to fresh vegetables and more with, what I have to admit, very mixed results! I dreamed of using fresh spinach to turn organic white eggs an emerald green, but instead I got a pale green that was basically undetectable. The turmeric on the other hand was an amazing bright yellow, as golden as the sun.

Once we dyed the eggs, I let Kenya decorate them with stickers and markers. His favorite part, though, was dropping and rolling them on the counter, peeling off the shells and eating them up. So I guess this is a food activity after all!



Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs

White Eggs, preferably organic if you’re going to eat them

Turmeric (yellow eggs)
Frozen Blueberries (lavender eggs)
Beets (pink eggs)
Chili Powder (rust/brown eggs)
Pomegranate or Grape Juice (grey, blueish, red eggs)

White Vinegar

1. Place eggs in a pot and cover with 1 inch of water. Stir in 2 tbsp of white vinegar and the food ingredient for desired color.
2. Bring water to a boil. When the water reaches a boil, reduce, simmer and cook for 15-30 minutes (the longer you cook the eggs, the tougher they will be).
3. Check the eggs to see if the desired color is achieved.
4. Let the easter egg hunt begin!

*If you want the eggs a deeper color you can remove them from the pot, let the color mixture cool and pour it back over the eggs and refrigerate overnight or longer. The longer the eggs are covered with the color, the deeper the shade will be. We also found that the color of the eggs deepened after they dried.

*If you want to eat the eggs make sure to refrigerate them.