Thanks to Rabbit Hill Gardens Herb Farm in Florida, I learned which vegetables produce what color. You should hard-boil your eggs the day before you dye them, and boil each concoction below (creating the colors) just before dyeing.
PLANT-DYED EGGS
Plant dyes
- Red cabbage makes robin’s egg blue
- Ground turmeric makes bright yellow
- Pickled beet juice makes pink
- Grape juice concentrate makes purple
- False roselle leaves makes light green
- Red onion skins make dark red
Materials
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Water
- Plant materials selected from above
- Vinegar
Directions
- Prepare a separate bowl for each color you decide to make.
- Fill each bowl with enough water to cover eggs (except for the grape juice concoction—since it’s liquid, you don’t need water)
- Add one teaspoon of vinegar for each cup of water.
- Put one teaspoon of various vegetable materials (selected from list above) into separate bowls or add two teaspoons if you use teas or ground spices for dyeing.
- Place eggs in the dye bath and let them soak for twenty minutes.
STENCILED EGGS
To add artistic flair, use flowers and leaves as stencils. Small flowers and leaves are flexible enough to bend around the eggs and create intricate designs.
Directions:
- Place flower or leaf against the egg and wrap a small piece of nylon stocking around the stencil and the egg.
- Secure with a rubber band.
- Dye as described above.
- When the dyeing is complete, remove the nylon wrapping and plant material.
- Eggs will have a stenciled botanical design with a dyed background. (If dye seeps into the area under a stencil, you can make plant materials stick to the egg more firmly by using a mixture of egg white and water, before wrapping everything with nylon.)
- To put a shiny surface on the eggs after they have cooled, rub canola or olive oil on them with a rag.
Photo courtesy of E. Smit
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