Natural Easter Egg Dyes

[Jaimee]

I would like to dye eggs naturally and have tried a few things in the past, but I would love some further ideas! Here's what I've tried:

Red cabbage (didn't really work)
Red onion skin (sort of brownish)
Fenugreek (yellow)
Blueberries (blue-purple)
Raspberries (didn't really work)

Plus, how did you do it? Maybe there is a better technique... I boiled the dye producing item and then added white vinegar. Any other suggestions?

Thanks!!

[crl]

curry powder = yellow
spinach = green

I just added the "color" plus a bit of vinegar to the pan with the eggs and cold water, brought to boil then simmered for 15 minutes. The curry was done at the end of that, the spinach I refrigerated overnight with the eggs still in the water to make the color darker.

[Carlyn]

I haven't done this myself, but it seems that beets would make a great colourful dye.

[Jaimee]

I was thinking beets, but I've noticed that the dye usually washes out of things easily, so I'm not sure if it would stick to eggs. Anyone know?

[jenmary]

beets for red. usually adding vinegar helps the color stay and deepen.
vitamin A oil from gel-coated vitamins for yellow
chlorophyll (HFS) for green
red cabbage is pH sensitive (can use cabbage juice as litmus paper), adding vinegar will make it more reddish-blue, base makes it turn yellow-green.
grape juice?

[spiderdust]

cranberry juice = pink to reddish purple (but don't use straight 100% cranberry juice, or it may eat through the shell! )
grape juice = lavender to blue
eggs boiled with yellow Delicious apple peels = greenish yellow
beet juice = pink
coffee = brown
eggs boiled with onion skins = orange
paprika = orange
eggs boiled with celery seed = yellow

[dillonandmarasmom]

artichokes make a brilliant (all-be-it expensive) green.

We're doing ours Friday and Saturday (some go overnight in the fridge for deep color).

We'll use beets, fenugreek, red cabbage, blue and black berries, cranberries, spinach, onion skins and coofee/tea.

The kids love the surprising colors, and even eat the mushie food bits after~!

[Jaimee]

These are some great tips! Thanks mamas!

Happy egg dying everyone!

[mamallama]

our red cabbage worked great--but we boiled the eggs & cabbage together w/a T of vinegar & then let it sit overnight (in the fridge.)

My favorite was the onion skin. We wrapped raw eggs in onion skin & wrapped that up with yarn & then boiled the eggs (also w/vinegar.) They turned out a deep mottled gold--totally gorgeous.

Tumeric made a lovely shade of deep yellow.

I wasn't impressed with paprika, and I think we could have gotten better results with beets if we'd let them sit for longer.