Easter Egg Dye

By Sage B.

Make natural dyed eggs with these great ideas of items you probably already have in your pantry. Experiment and see what kinds of colors you can get with a variety of different additives.

Ingredients

• 12 eggs
• Water
• White or cider vinegar
• DYEING MATERIALS: Use these natural ingredients for various dye colors
• Purple: grape juice, red wine
• Blue: canned blueberries (with juice), red cabbage leaves
• Green: grass cuttings, spinach leaves
• Yellow: carrot tops, ground cumin or turmeric, orange or lemon peels
• Orange: carrots, chili powder, paprika, yellow onion skins
• pink: canned beets (with juice), cranberry juice, raspberries
• Red: canned cherries (with juice), pomegranate juice, red onion skins

Preparation

Step 1

Making natural dye out of fruits, vegetables, and other everyday items found in your home or garden is both easy and fun. Just throw the raw materials into the boiling water while you cook the eggs - you'll need to boil each color separately! For really vivid color, be sure to add at least a half a cup of dyeing material and 2 teaspoons of vinegar for each cup of water you use.

In a medium saucepan, put in a single layer of eggs, enough water to cover them, vinegar, and your dyeing materials. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat and let the eggs and dye mixture simmer for about 15 minutes. If you want the color on your eggs to be darker, let the eggs soak in the dye mixture in the fridge overnight.