Natural Easter Egg Coloring

Now that you've gone out and bought your free range, organic, all natural eggs you certainly don't want to tarnish them with artificial colorings.  Why not use what you already have in your pantry and refrigerator?  We kept seeing articles and hearing a lot of talk about using vegetables and spices to dye Easter eggs, but we're a bit skeptical over the results. Loving the colors that others were able to produce - subtle, matted hues - I decided it would be a fun thing to try out and share with all of you.

I already had some beets, coffee grinds and turmeric in my kitchen so I went with those. I made the base from a recipe I found in Yankee Magazine: Combine 4 cups water, 1 tablespoon white vinegar and 1 tablespoon salt.

To make the Red Coloring I added chopped beets to my base mixture, brought it to a boil and then reduced the heat to a simmer for 30 minutes, until the liquid had a deep red color to it. I strained the beets out and let the liquid cool down.

For the Yellow Coloring I added 5 tablespoons of turmeric spice to the base liquid, mixed it well and let it simmer for a few minutes until the spice was thoroughly dissolved. Then poured it into a bowl to let cool.

Brown Coloring required 4 tablespoons of coffee grinds mixed with the base and brought to a boil, then simmered for 10 minutes or so. Strained into a bowl and let cool.

I did not have any cabbage, but blue can be made by shredding half of a red cabbage, adding it to the base and bringing it to a boil. Let simmer for 20 minutes, strain and cool.

Once I had poured all the liquid into different containers, I let the eggs sit overnight for about 7-8 hours, though 3-4 hours would be plenty if you don't have time to leave them overnight.  Just make sure the liquid completely covers the eggs.

And that was it.  Fairly easy and simple process for nice, naturally colored eggs. Happy Easter!