This just in from my Joy of Cooking Day
Calendar...!
Today's Tidbit of info from the
calendar is a short list of food based dyes you can use to color Easter eggs. Knowing now what I have learned about chickens and egg laying (which isn't all that much) I can really
appreciate the role that eggs play at Easter. Chicken's egg laying ability is diminished in cold weather, and increases as the weather warms. In addition, their feed during the cold seasons must rely on grain without the levels of fresh grass and bugs from the lush pasture that that make their spring eggs so nutritious.
Some of these ingredients, like the onion skins might be available scraps if your cooking for Easter brunch or dinner anyway.
Makes 4 cups...
Place in a pot:
4 cups water
2 tablespoons white vinegar
Add one of the following dyeing agents:
4 cups chopped beets for pink
4 cups boiled red cabbage for blue (it makes a nice bright blue)
3 tablespoons turmeric powder for yellow (be
careful it can stain anything it touches!)
Skins from 12 red onions for burnt orange to orange
Skins from 12 large yellow onions for brown
Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 30 min.
Strain each dye through a sieve lined with a coffee filter into a bowl or cup.
Add hard-boiled eggs to the dye and soak until they have reached the color you desire.
Air-dry on a rack lined with paper towels.
