Recipe: Natural Easter Egg Dyes (repost)

DYEING EASTER EGGS
Posted by Elly on 2/18/98

With Easter not too far away, I was thinking today of how we used to dye eggs. We put the outer skins from yellow onions in the water while the eggs were boiling, this made really pretty brownish yellow speckled eggs. We also used some little packets of powder that we dissolved in water. (Maybe those are still available I don't know) The brand that we always used was "Flecks Easter Egg Dyes" made in Tiffin, Ohio. The best part of this story is: In 1951 in Toledo, Ohio at a roller skating rink, I met a young man from Tiffin, Ohio. His name was Jim Fleck and he was related to the Flecks who made the dyes we had used for years. We have been married for almost 43 years.

---

DYEING EASTER EGGS - NATURAL DYES

I just came across a newspaper article that I cut out probably 20 years ago. A consumer service coordinator talks about natural Easter egg dyes:

- Using about 5 purple cabbage leaves in about 4 cups water produces an aqua color and the egg will be patterned like tie-dyed material.
- Frozen spinach boiled in water gives a light yellow color.
- Walnut shells give a buff color.
- Orange peel a tender yellow.
- Pear peel a yellow-green.
- Carrot tops a smoky yellow green.
- Yellow delicious apple peelings a lavender with soft rust flecks.
- Fresh oregano and mint a beige color.
- Thyme a pale grayish yellow-orange.
- Cranberries a grayish-lavender color.

These should all be boiled then cooled, preferably overnight and a little vinegar added to fix the colors. When added, the hard boiled eggs should also be cool, let stand in the colored water until desired color is reached, turning as needed. Refrigerate up to a few hours for darker color.

She also talks about dyeing peeled eggs by dipping them for about six minutes in a mixture of one cup water to 1 package of unsweetened drink mix (I assume she means kool-aid). These produce a brilliantly colored egg to spruce up a salad, she says.

Since my original posting I have come across a few more:
Fresh beets - pinkish red color
Ground turmeric - yellow
Canned blueberries -blue
Strong brewed coffee - beige to brown
Chili powder - brown-orange