Easter Egg Coloring with Natural Dyes

Since having a kid, I don’t know what exactly pushed us over the edge to be an organic family, but we try to be as wholesome as possible. Trust me, we are not hardcore and don’t succeed in 100% organic life all the time, or even half the time, but we try when we can. We sure don’t judge either, so don’t read this with harsh feelings 🙂

In regards to why we have gone organic, there is a saying I learned in sales training in the past that really stuck with me as a parent too. (If you are new to my blog, I am a lifetime commissioned salesperson)

“If it can’t hurt, but it might help, then what is the harm in trying?”

In sales this of course was meant to be applied to closing tactics, but for some reason in my pregnancy and parenthood it has resonated with me a lot.

Can eating organic foods hurt my child or my family… of course not! Could it help… that is very possible, with her being exposed to less chemicals/hormones and more natural ingredients. Okay, so what is the downfall to attempting to have a more organic lifestyle… nothing! So we try.

This year for Easter, our daughter is just over two years old, and at the age where we can participate in simple crafts as a family. So, I thought it would be fun to dye some Easter eggs! I saw this tutorial from Whole Foods and was inspired to give natural egg dyeing a try!

The basics of their tactic:

• 2 Cups brightly colored fruits or veggies chopped (they suggest beets, blueberries, spinach, but you can use anything on-hand)
• 2 Cups water, per item you boil
• 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar, per item you boil
• hard boiled eggs

Instructions:

• Simmer your 2 C veggies and 2 C water until the water is about 2 shades darker than the desired color for your egg. About 10 minutes.
• Remove from heat and use a strainer/mesh seive to separate the colored water from the cooked fruit or vegetable.
• Allow the colored water to cool, then add 1 teaspoon vinegar
• Fully submerge your hard boiled egg in the dye, and remove and set to dry once desired color is reached.

What We Tried

So, I attempted using ingredients we already had at home.

1/2 a purple cabbage created some beautiful robin’s egg blue eggs.

1/2 a bunch of cilantro and 1 T of paprika created a nice subtle orange finished color. I was hoping the cilantro boiled would turn green as they had suggested spinach would, but it was mostly yellow so I added some Paprika to ‘spice up’ the color, haha 🙂

1/2 a pot of leftover French Press Coffee… Yeah I truly didn’t have any good veggies to work with, so I gave this a try! The eggs turned out a beautiful speckled tan/mocha color.

Over-all, I was pleased with the results, and we had fun with the project. Next year I definitely want some red beets and green spinach to work with to add some dimension to my egg basket, but the red cabbage will be used again for sure!!

Side note – after checking out this Whole Foods recipe I saw some backlash from people on Facebook for wasting vegetables… okay trolls……

Well, if wasting ingredients concerns you, it is not meant to be wasteful, and can be quite the opposite. For example, I saved my boiled red cabbage and incorporated it in dinner that night. The cilantro bunch I had was on it’s way out and was about to end up in the garbage anyways, and the coffee was just leftovers from breakfast 🙂 You don’t have to overthink where to get the ingredients; just pick deeply colored fruits or veggies you have hanging around and plan to cook anyways!

Some ingredients Whole Foods suggested trying:

• Yellow — Lemon or orange peels, carrots or celery seed
• Orange — Paprika, cumin, chili powder or yellow onion skins
• Red/Pink — Cranberries, raspberries or radishes
• Purple — Hibiscus tea
• Blue/Lavender — Red cabbage, blackberries, purple or red grape juice
• Green — Spinach leaves
• Brown/Beige — Coffee, tea or walnuts

Happy Easter Everyone!