Dyeing Naturally

The other day I had some spare time to dye eggs.  But I did not pack up the little one, burn gas going to the store and buy the 'kit' of tablets containing Magnesium, Zinc, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate and Maltodextrin.  Maltodextrin, really, why sweeten dye?

Instead I looked to see what I might use to dye our eggs naturally.  I came up with dried lamb's quarter, cumin, turmeric, vinegar and some red cabbage. 

First, in a small sauce pot put enough water to cover eggs.  For spices add three tablespoons of spice and three tablespoons of vinegar.  For plant material, three tablespoons of vinegar and a cup of dried lamb's quarter in one pot and five leaves of chopped cabbage for another color.  The house smelled spicy for a bit but I did not mind.

Next, boil two or three eggs for 10 minutes in a mixture.   Using tongs remove the eggs so they can cool and strain the mixtures with plant materials through a cheese cloth into a deep enough bowl to hold eggs.

If you would like darker colors, let your liquid cool and put hard boiled eggs in and let them sit overnight in the refrigerator.

For color comparison there is an unprocessed egg on top of the others.  The row closest to you shows the egg color when taken out of the boil, the other rows show the color from sitting overnight.  The far left column is the cumin, only a slightly darker color for the extra time.  Second column is the lamb's quarter, not much of  difference.  The third column is the turmeric, a lovely color right out of the boil and a bit of deepening over night.  The most impressive color came from the red cabbage.  You can see the slightest blue hue from right out of the boil.  But look how deep it became overnight!  The light spot on the middle egg comes from the water not completely covering the egg.

Now to see if any of the flavors entered the eggs, akin to Chinese Tea Eggs, although these shells where not cracked prior to bathing.