It's almost Easter and when my kids were home that always meant making cinnamon rolls, cardomom dove rolls (recipe originally from Sunset Magazine) and coloring eggs. We still do, even though not so many. But....for those who actually read this blog, here are a couple easy ways to naturally color hard boiled eggs for Easter treats or anytime.
For many shades of brown, tan, and rust - gather 2-3 hand-fulls of dry, yellow onion skins. If your grocer allows, just dig them out of the bins. Or husk them off a bag of onions you buy. The trick is DRY, papery onion skins. Put them into a stainless steel cooking pan, add the eggs and water to generously cover the eggs. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 10 minutes. Turn off heat and let sit in the onion water. The longer they sit, the more intense the colors become. The ones in the photo sat overnight. This is how my Grandma used to color eggs for us. For the great robin's egg blue - buy a small head of red cabbage. Shred it finely in a food processor and place into heat-proof strainer seated over your egg-cooking pan. Bring a teakettle of water to boil, and pour boiling water over the cabbage. Use this strained cabbage water to cook your eggs in OR let your pre-boiled eggs steep in the cabbage water. Again, the longer the wait, the deeper the color.
There's more - spinach for pale green, tumeric for yellow, beets for rose, etc. Google "natural egg coloring" or click here.
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