Released April 10, 2009
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Before you gear up for a trip to the store for an egg-dying kit, save your dollars and cents by using things you likely already have in your kitchen, advises Lisa Gilmore, Garland County extension agent for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.
Fruits, vegetables, and spices can all be used to color Easter eggs, whether you plan to dye and hide them, or save them to eat later.
Here are a few things you can use to color eggs naturally:
- Fresh beets or cranberries, frozen raspberries, and pomegranate juice will produce a pinkish red color.
- Yellow onion skins will turn egg shells orange.
- For a light yellow egg, use orange or lemon peels, carrot tops, celery seed or ground cumin. Ground turmeric will produce a darker yellow.
- Use spinach leaves for a pale green hue.
- Canned blueberries or red cabbage leaves will dye eggs blue.
- Strong brewed coffee, chili powder and dill seeds will color eggs beige or brown.
- Yellow Delicious apple peels make a green-gold dyed egg.
To prepare eggs for dyeing, boil white eggs and let them cool. The fresher the egg, the harder it will be to peel later, if you plan to eat the eggs. Eggs that are close to their "use-by" date will peel much easier.
"If you plan to eat the eggs later, take special care to keep them refrigerated as much as possible," Gilmore says. The eggs should not be out of the refrigerator for more than two hours, and should be eaten within a week.
If eggs are to be eaten, use a food-safe coloring. Go green and use foods found in your kitchen to dye the eggs.
The American Egg Board recommends this recipe to make naturally dyed eggs: Toss your choice of a handful - or two or three - of one of the foods listed above into a saucepan. Use your own judgment about quantity. This isn’t an exact science. Be aware that the beautiful strong colors of purple or red grape juice and beet juice will produce a gray, not very Eastery-colored egg.
Gilmore says to add about a cup of water for each handful of food, so the water comes at least an inch above the dyestuff. Bring to boiling, reduce the heat and simmer from 15 minutes up to an hour, until the color is the shade you want. Keep in mind that the eggs will dye a lighter shade. Remove the pan from the heat.
Strain the dye mixture into a small bowl that’s deep enough to completely cover the eggs you want to dye. Add 2 to 3 teaspoons of white vinegar for each cup of dye. With a spoon or wire egg holder from a dyeing kit, lower the eggs into the hot liquid. Let the eggs stand until they reach the desired color. Place the eggs on a rack or drainer. Allow eggs to dry thoroughly.
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http://www.uaex.edu/news/april2009/0410dye_eggs.htm
Contact: Lamar James, (501) 671-2187, ljames@uaex.edu
