Natural Easter Egg Dyes

Today is the 1st day of spring hurray. Above is a picture of the rosemary bush in my backyard.

I have been reading about ways to dye eggs with things we have around the house such as fruits, fruit juices, spices, coffee and vegetables. It's not that I am completed opossed to using the artificial dyes, but if I can use something I have at home already why not? Plus I know that it is safe for my kids, especially if they want to eat one of the eggs. But to be honest with you the thought of dyeing Easter Eggs does not excite me. Maybe because it was not an Easter ritual when I was growing up or maybe because it is so messy. I am not really sure. It could be that my kids just aren't old enough to truly enjoy the whole process. So I have not decided whether we will dye Easter Eggs this year, but if we do I am going to try some of these methods.

There are two approaches when using the natural dyes. You can either boil and cool your eggs and then soak the eggs in the dye for 30 minutes or you can boil the eggs in the dye material.

Click here for instructions regarding the boiling method.

Click here for the instructions for using the cool method.

If we dye eggs, I will use coffee for brown eggs, spinach for green eggs, blueberries for purple eggs, and beet juice for pink. (I think I have a can of beets in my pantry.) I might also try carrots for orange, and maybe lemon peel for yellow just because these are the things I have at home. I will have to check to see if I have tumeric. Maybe we will even experiment with some other things. I will post pictures if we give it a go.