Does Dying Eggs with Foods Work (Cabbage, Onions, Beets & More)

Have you ever dyed Easter Eggs with natural foods. I have seen this done in numerous magazines and on cooking shows, but always wondered what the real results would be so I gave it a try.

I've read that you can hard boil the eggs at the same time as creating the dye, or go for a lighter color and cook eggs first then dye them after the color is prepared. I opted for the second one.

I added 2 Tablespoons of White Vinegar to each color after making. I've also found that soaking the eggs in a bowl of vinegar helps the color take better. For each of the colors I used 2 – 3 cups of water and boiled the color source for about 15 minutes. Allow your liquid to completely cool before adding eggs to color.

Blue – Red-cabbage dye: 1/2 head of chopped cabbage
Yellow – Turmeric dye: 3 tablespoons turmeric
Purple – Grape Juice dye: Regular made Grape Juice (no water needed)
Red – Paprika dye: 3 tablespoons paprika
Orange – Onion-skin dye: Outer layer of 6 yellow onions
Green – Onion skin dye: Outer layer of 6 red onions
Magenta – Beet dye: 3 beets
Brown – Coffee dye: Strong black coffee (no water needed)

A few notes: Paprika and Turmeric don't dissolve in water (even boiling), so you end up with a gloppy mess in the bottom of your container, you might consider straining them through a cheesecloth to get a more translucent dye. The sugar from the grape juice makes the egg a bit sticky, I resolved this problem by powdering the egg with cornstarch. I also recommend using a cooling rack set on a cookie sheet for drying. This makes for fewer streaks and quicker drying.

I opted not to try the Green or Brown, but overall I liked the natural soft results and while it's a bit labor intensive, I think it would be a fun project for kids. We had the beets for dinner and I made a yummy batch of French Onion Soup with the onions, so only 1/2 the head of cabbage was put to waste. Come back and let us know if you try it.