enJOY it

an archived personal and craft blog from Elise Blaha Cripe.

experiments in egg dying.

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I decided this past weekend to dye Easter eggs. I don't think I have dyed eggs in at least 15 years, but wow, it's crazy how that vinegar smell takes you right back. To make things more interesting, I searched for natural dye recipes and tried a few different ideas for getting color. This article from Better Homes & Gardens was helpful. This one is good too.

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We used turmeric to get yellow. The very light pink came from beets and the orange came from red onion skins (which were supposed to result in jade green – are you kidding me!?).

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It was a combination of exciting (yellow) and lame (pink) but regardless, pretty fun. Next year I am determined to get the whole rainbow through everyday foods and spices.

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And in the meantime, those hard-boiled eggs are not going to waste. I had no idea how much I loved deviled eggs. Paul's idea to throw little jalapeno pieces into the yolk mix instead of relish was genius.

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27 responses to “experiments in egg dying.”

  1. ashli Avatar
    ashli

    http://emilyweaverbrownphoto.com/blog/2011/04/natural-food-dyes/natural-easter-egg-dying-%E2%80%93-a-comprehensive-visual-guide/
    this blog has the best natural dye recipes!

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  2. Pink Ronnie Avatar
    Pink Ronnie

    I like the color palette you used! Feels almost Tuscan…
    You know, I’ve never tried deviled eggs before. Food for thought (literally)!
    Ronnie xo

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  3. Laura Melohn Avatar
    Laura Melohn

    Your red onion skin eggs turned purple because you used vinegar–which is acidic. They are an acid base indicator. To get green you would need to make the solution basic. I’m not sure what that would be for dying eggs, though

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  4. Emily Avatar
    Emily

    I am obsessed with deviled eggs – my mom makes the best. There are so many fun ways to jazz them up, I don’t know why I don’t vary them more often. I honestly want to have a deviled egg party, haha!!!

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  5. Elizabeth Avatar
    Elizabeth

    It’s my first year decorating eggs with my daughters. I too have not done it since I was super young. I went with the PAAS dye this year. I am a lover of deviled eggs too and my mother’s recipe is the best! A huge easter feast planned for my little family this weekend. And then a hike at our local nature preserve. I bet we see lots of bunnies! 🙂

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  6. Skye Avatar
    Skye

    I love that you tried natural dyes. The yellow and orange are so pretty!

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  7. elise blaha Avatar
    elise blaha

    Ah-ha!! That is awesome! I will do more investigating for next time. Thank you!!!!

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  8. Jessica Avatar
    Jessica

    for basic solution you might be able to use water with some baking soda in it and then add the vinegar. You could try calcium carbonate too (like a ground up Tums pill). It could be that originator of this dye recipe had hard water, so you might want to replicate that water by adding these chemicals. Alternatively, if you make a really strong basic solution with water and one of these two substances you could add it at the end of the recipe instead of vinegar and see what happens. Ammonia is an alternative – but would have a strong smell.
    It occurs to me that you could also draw out the colour with vodka…which would be less acidic than vinegar….but you would likely have to develop a different process for leaching the colour (like it might have to sit with onion in the fridge for a few days).
    Re: natural dying – so cool. I used to dye eggs every year for years. The very last time I did it, I think used various strongly coloured herbal teas. Lavender can produce some very pretty colours too.

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  9. Her Sunday Avatar
    Her Sunday

    Oh wow, I haven’t dyed eggs since I was a kid. At one point I had a collection of a bunch of different ways to prepare deviled eggs, I’ll have to look around for that. There were all different kinds of ingredients to mix in to the eggs and it looked kind of fun to test out.

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  10. Terry D. Avatar
    Terry D.

    OK…what’s your secret for perfectly removing the shells from hard-boiled eggs? My HB eggs NEVER come out without some of them looking picked on!
    Going to try the Jalapenos in mine too. Good idea Paul!

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  11. jennie Avatar
    jennie

    first of all i am SUPER impressed with your chemistry commenters who know how to turn red onion skins green. my own comment is about the food…i don’t know what you sprinkled on top of the deviled eggs, but if you ever miss living in MD, know that we always sprinkle old bay on top of ours! it will take you right back, i’m sure.

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  12. Jessica Avatar
    Jessica

    …totally logical, but I should say, if you use ammonia don’t eat the egg.

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  13. ktmade Avatar
    ktmade

    oh man, i’m craving deviled eggs now.

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  14. holly Avatar
    holly

    i just did a post on this too! i had amazing and lame results. the BEST was the red cabbage– it made the most beautiful shade of blue!
    http://zuccherozucchero.blogspot.com/2012/04/natural-egg-dyeing.html

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  15. elise blaha Avatar
    elise blaha

    ooh! good to know!

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  16. elise blaha Avatar
    elise blaha

    so interesting!! thanks for these suggestions. 🙂

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  17. elise blaha Avatar
    elise blaha

    hmmm, no real secret.. we just were careful. 🙂

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  18. Barbara Martin Avatar
    Barbara Martin

    Super fresh eggs are harder to peel, “old” eggs meaning closer to the use by date are easier. I don’t know why but it seems to be true.

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  19. Jessica at Kids Napping? I'm Scrapping! Avatar
    Jessica at Kids Napping? I’m Scrapping!

    So pretty- I am really liking the yellow. I made deviled eggs this week, too. Wish I had thought to add jalapenos. Definitely next time.

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  20. Sheree C. Avatar
    Sheree C.

    Pretty colors! One of my friends showed me this yesterday- thought you would think it interesting! 🙂 Eggs dyed with silk ties- resulting in gorgeous designs!
    http://www.ourbestbites.com/2012/03/silk-dyed-eggs-aka-tie-dyed/

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  21. Kathy Martin Avatar
    Kathy Martin

    Oh…love Paul’s reviled egg recipe change….I’m not a fan of relish! I bet they were delishes! I’m going to be tryin the natural dye thing with our son. I got some recipes on Pinterest. Happy Easter!

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  22. Kathy Martin Avatar
    Kathy Martin

    The secret to perfectly peeled eggs is to boil eggs that aren’t super fresh. I learned this little trick from Martha Stewart.

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  23. Michael @ Law Actually Avatar
    Michael @ Law Actually

    Erm… what’s wrong with painting them? :-$

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  24. Allie Finch Avatar
    Allie Finch

    I love the shades yours turned out. I agree with the Tuscan comment.
    I experimented with coloring eggs naturally this week too. Our beet one turned a deep red, but we soaked them for a really long time. Hibiscus was our favorite. It was such a fun experiment!
    http://colourmehappy.typepad.com/colour-me-happy/2012/04/diy-natural-dye-easter-eggs.html

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  25. Jessica @shimmerkai Avatar
    Jessica @shimmerkai

    You managed to make the eggs looks really appetizing both in and out of the shell…no neon pink seeping through 🙂 Love your idea about spicy deviled eggs!

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  26. Acompton Avatar
    Acompton

    mmmm love me some deviled eggs!

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  27. Chrystina Avatar
    Chrystina

    I’ve definitely used onion skins before – but I had no idea it was supposed to result in jade, I always got orange. Also, I absolutely love deviled eggs, I’m glad you got the chance to appreciate them. Spice always helps. I have a friend who makes “death eggs” because they once doubled the amount of hotness. Also, I love the fact that there’s a lot of restaurants in Philadelphia who specialize in deviled eggs – my favorite being supper who makes 4 different kinds of deviled eggs and gives you one of each as an appetizer, for example bbq, truffle, horseradish, etc. Who would have thought I would have so much to say about eggs?

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