Egg Dying the Old-fashioned Way

Happy eggs, from healthy chickens, don’t need artificial food colors. No reason to waste money on store-bought coloring tablets if you have an old pair of stockings at home and some onions in the pantry.

I miss the good old times, when not everything was bought in the store, but was made at home, when we found use for things that we consider useless.

Back home in Austria, we colored eggs the natural way, the way the Easter bunny intended (I suppose).

Dyeing Easter eggs with plants has a long tradition. It is a natural and sustainable method that, unlike artificial dyes, produces particularly beautiful, warm shades.

Not bright red or yellow, but earth tones.

Dyeing Easter eggs with onion skins

Colourful eggs made from natural waste. Depending on the onion variety, this results in pretty Easter eggs in warm shades—from golden yellow to dark brown (even redish with red onions). This simple method of egg dyeing is not only sustainable but also quite uncomplicated: boil the eggs, then let them soak in warm onion-skin broth. Voila!

What’s needed for dyeing

There are no limits to the patterns. The only important thing is that you wait until the egg is completely dry.

• 1 large handful of onion skins
• Several white eggs
• 1 old pair of pantyhose (to be cut)
• Kitchen twine
• Various small flowers, grasses, and shamrocks

Shamrocks and daisies are best suited for decoration. Leaves and flowers with furry or hairy surfaces should not be used, as the paint will creep underneath and smear the pattern.

Always clean the raw eggs thoroughly with a little vinegar water so the color is better absorbed.

• Arrange the patterns: First, cut the stocking into squares about 10 x 10 inches and place a pattern of grasses and flowers in the middle around the egg. Tie tightly with kitchen twine.

The stockings ensure that the plants stick to the eggshell, and the onion broth cannot stain the peel underneath.

In a saucepan, boil a good handful of onion skins in water. Place the strocking-wrapped eggs in the onion broth and cook for 10-15 minutes. Take the eggs out and remove the stocking when the egg has dried.

Adding an iron nail darkens (this applies especially to green and yellow), and vinegar lightens the coloring. After boiling, the liquid is strained with a sieve or a paper coffee filter.

On the surface, which is reddish-brown from the onion broth, the grasses and flowers now stand out as a pattern.

When the eggs have cooled, it is best to rub them with a few drops of cooking oil or with a bacon rind (yep). This makes the colors brighter, and the eggs have a nice shine.

Other dyes from nature:

• Red is achieved with apple tree bark or beets
• The colour red-violet can be obtained from beetroot and red cabbage leaves.
• For blue shades, elderberries or blueberries are used.
• For green Easter eggs, ivy leaves, spinach, or parsley are suitable.
• Yellow is best obtained from saffron, chamomile flowers, or tumeric.
• Orange can be obtained from carrots, and brown from oak bark, coffee, tea, or traditionally from onion skins.

Coloring eggs is fun, and while the old-fashioned way might be a bit more time-consuming, it’s a very rewarding procedure and—believe me—if you have guests over Easter, they will be raving over your colored eggs when they hear the story behind it.

In a world so full of modern technology and quick ‘fixes’, I can only hope that these old traditions will not be forgotten.

Happy Easter!