How-To

Dyeing eggs with herbs

Coloring Easter eggs is fun. Easter eggs can be dyed naturally with the help of various herbs, onion skins, spinach or beetroots. Why not dye eggs throughout the rest of the year, too?

Total: 1h 45min | Active: 45min

Ingredients

Two dye mixtures of 2 l each

For dyeing:
5 sprigs	Primrose
5 sprigs	Parsley
5	Sage leaves
5	Mint leaves
Other blossoms	As desired
20	White eggs (five or more per color)
2 l	Water per color
1 tbsp	Cooking oil
1 tbsp	Vinegar
30 g	Onion skins (brown)
500 g	Spinach (green)
500 g	Red cabbage (blue/purple)
8 tsp	Turmeric (yellow)

Equipment

Old tights
Sieve
Kitchen paper or tea towel
String

Dye

Finely chop the plant parts (e.g. peel the onions, dice the red cabbage).
For the yellow dye, leave the turmeric to soak for 30 minutes and then boil down for 30 minutes.
Boil down the red cabbage, spinach and onion skins for 40 minutes.
Then filter the various dyes with a sieve and keep for coloring.
Tip: You can easily prepare the dyes the day before.

Dyeing eggs

First, clean the eggs thoroughly with vinegar and kitchen paper.
Sort the leaves and blossoms and arrange them on each egg.
Carefully place one of the tights around the egg and the herbs/blossoms and tie in a knot.
This will mean that the egg remains white where the leaves have been placed.
Bring the desired dye to a boil and hard boil the eggs for 10–12 minutes.
After boiling, quickly cool each egg and remove the tights.
Tip: Rub the dyed eggs with a few drops of cooking oil to give them a brighter, shinier color.