Colouring Easter eggs is a century old tradition and today, there seems to be an endless range of different dying kits making the task quick and easy. However, there is an equally easy way to ditch the chemicals and make beautifully coloured Easter eggs the natural way.
Germany is credited having invented the Easter Bunny, the rabbit that brings coloured Easter eggs to on Easter Sunday, hiding them in the garden. As for the origins of the coloured Easter eggs themselves, these are much less clear.
The common story goes that in the Middle Ages when people in western Europe were not allowed to eat meat and eggs during the Lent season. For this reason, to not have to throw away eggs (which were precious at the time), these collected and hard-boiled to be preserved until Easter. To not confuse boiled eggs with those not yet boiled, people started to colour the boiled eggs.
However, several sources trace back the Easter eggs to Persia, from where they found their way to the early Christians of Mesopotamia. From there, they spread into Eastern Europe and later to other parts of Europe. But decorating eggshells apparently has an even longer history. In fact, decorated, engraved ostrich eggs that are thought to be more than 60,000 years old were found in Africa.
Regardless of the origins, here in Germany it is impossible to think of the Easter without coloured Easter eggs. And for many, it is still a cherished family tradition to dye their own Easter eggs in the days running up to the long Easter weekend.
If you step into a local supermarket these days, one of the first things you will spot will be a large selection of Easter egg dye, from bright to pastel and natural colours, dye that will create marbled eggs, and not to mention all the different dying methods one can chose from: putting the eggs in hot or cold water or using colouring sticks directly painting on the eggs, etc.
A lot of these products now claim to be organic. Whilst there is no question colouring kits are much more sustainable today than they have been in the past, in truth most are still light years away from being truly organic.
There are however alternatives, and this year I thought it was time to colouring my Easter eggs using totally natural ingredients.
I came across this method several years ago in a food magazine but have never actually tried it out myself. As it turned out, it is a fairly easy way colouring eggs, and the colours turned out nicely in most cases.
If you want to colour your own Easter eggs with natural ingredients, follow my guide below to get the best results.
What to know about using natural ingredients to colour your Easter eggs
If you have chosen to colour your Easter eggs in a natural way this year, that’s great.
Below, I have put together a little guide and you will find the whole process is likely much easier and straightforward then you might think.
However, there are a couple of things you should be aware of before colouring your Easter eggs in a natural way.
- The process colouring Easter eggs with natural ingredients will take longer compared to using ready made colouring kits.
- Make sure you prepare enough dye liquid to fully emerge all the eggs you want to colour. As a rule of thumb, you need around on litre of liquid to fully emerge two to three eggs.
- Using natural ingredients to dye eggs will result in a colour scheme which will be less bright and more uneven compared to most colouring kits. On the upside, the end result will look much more natural, indeed.
- Not all ingredients work equally well. It will be a little bit of a try and see exercise to figure out the best results.
- Keep in mind that the eggs will remain several shades lighter than the prepared dye water. Therefore, if you want a stronger, darker shade, add more dye matter to the water and also let the eggs soak overnight.
- The eggs will have a matte finish. You can make the colour a bit shinier rubbing the eggs with a bit of olive oil once the colour has dried.
- Keep in mind that the natural colour can rub off the eggs more easily, especially if you use them to decorate food like sweet yeast braids.
How to colour your Easter eggs in a natural way
To colour your Easter eggs in a natural way, you need different vegetables, herbs, and juices.
According to the ingredients you choose, there are two different ways to colour the eggs.
- Preparing the dye using vegetables or herbs, letting it cool and soak the already hard-boiled eggs.
- If using juices or teas, another way to colour the eggs is boiling the eggs in the dye matter and afterwards let them still soak for a certain time.
For the first solution, bring the dye matter (the vegetables, herbs, etc.) and water to boil. Turn the heat down and over medium heat let simmer for 15 to 60 minutes until you have obtained the desired colour shade.
Set aside to let cool than pour through a mesh strainer into a bowl or jars/glasses. Add vinegar.
Place hard-boiled eggs into the dye and place in the fridge until obtaining the desired colour. This can take a couple of hours, or up to a day.
Once the eggs have taken on the desired colour, scoop them out of the liquid with a spoon. Place on a drying rack.
When the colour has dried up, rub the eggs with a splash of olive oil to add a little shine if desired.
As for the different colours you can obtain using natural ingredients, the range will run from yellow to orange, pink, red, green, blue and also grey.
Below, I am listing different vegetables, herbs, teas and juices that will turn your eggs into a desired colour scheme.
Prepare these like described for the first solution.
Dying Easter eggs yellow and orange: Turmeric
If you want to dye your Easter eggs yellow and/or orange, the best ingredient to use is ground turmeric.
1 litre water
4 tablespoons ground turmeric
4 tablespoons vinegar
Use white eggs for yellow and brown eggs to obtain an orange colour.
Dying Easter eggs pink and red: Beetroot
1 litre water
1 kg grated beetroot
4 tablespoons vinegar
Use white eggs to obtain a pink colouring. Using brown eggs will result in a brownish red shade.
Dying Easter eggs red: red onion skins
1 litre water
1 kg red onion skins
4 tablespoons vinegar
Use white eggs to obtain a light red colour. Brown eggs will turn out in a brownish red shade.
Dying Easter eggs blue: Red cabbage
1 litre water
1 kg red cabbage, roughly chopped
4 tablespoons vinegar
Use white eggs to obtain different shades of blue (depending on how long you let soak the eggs). Use brown eggs for a darker petrol shade.
Dying Easter eggs green: Spinach or green asparagus
1 litre water
1 kg spinach leaves or green asparagus, roughly chopped
4 tablespoons
Use white eggs.
Alternatively to the method above, you can also colour eggs by directly boiling them in teas or juices and let soak for a certain time afterwards.
Again, prepare about one litre of liquid to emerge two to three eggs.
Dying Easter eggs yellow: camomile tea
Add 4 to 5 tea bags to the water, hard boil white eggs in the mix than let soak until obtaining a light yellow shade.
Dying Easter eggs red: Cranberry juice or hibiscus tea
For a light red shade, hard boil eggs in a litre of cranberry juice or use 4-5 tea bags of hibiscus tea.
Are you colouring your own Easter eggs? Have you ever used natural ingredients? Let me know about your experience.
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