i jump on the bandwagon of a lot of holidays, just to partake in the aspects that involve food. usually i like the excuse to plan large feasts and drink too much with family and friends. but this easter it was all the talk of naturally dyed easter eggs that excited me. tamra davis used onion skins to dye her eggs and a friend linked to the kitchn’s method that used tea, spices and vegetables to dye eggs, resulting in different colours depending on if you use brown or white eggs. i used both, and the purple cabbage did indeed turn brown eggs green and white eggs blue. i used red tea for another dye, turmeric for the third, and a combo of the blue cabbage dye and turmeric to try to get to green–didn’t really work but perhaps if my dyes were stronger. i added a splash of vinegar and stuck them in the fridge to set…
but i sort of went out for the rest of the day and left my eggs in vinegar water for, oh, about 10 hours too long. they probably need just a couple of hours for the colour to set, and while mine looked vibrant when they first came out, the colour and a thin layer of the shell wiped right off–i think the vinegar eroded the shell.
so i ended up with pale pastel shells which were still pretty. and still tasty on a mustard-y arugula and fried potato salad for lunch.
