Farm Fresh Easter Eggs {Natural Egg Dye Recipe}

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One of the best things about farm living is having fresh eggs.

Within yards of the house.

I decided to color some eggs using dyes made from items found in my kitchen.

No artificial colors.

My Rhode Island Reds lay beautiful brown eggs...probably what comes to mind when you think of farm-fresh-eggs.

The Brown Leghorns lay perfectly white eggs.

For this project, I opted to use the white ones.

I'm sure you have all read about the dangers of artificial food coloring.

 If not, please do. 
Scary. 

These egg colors were made using natural ingredients that I had on hand.

Healthy and economical.

{added bonus...my refrigerator was cleaned out in the process}

I found some recipes for natural dye that were more complicated and involved things like chlorophyll capsules.  Those eggs might have turned out prettier.  But, I had fun being creative and experimenting.

Also, some recipes contained different instructions for each individual color.
I took a simpler approach.

Recipe for Farm Fresh All-Natural Easter Eggs

{hard boil the eggs and let them cool}

For each color, put two cups of water in a small pot.

Add whatever source of color.

{I was not exact about this... perhaps a cup of the color source, except paprika, a tbsp. of that}

Bring it to a boil.

Turn down the temperature and let it simmer for 5 minutes.

Strain {for the ones that had something to strain}.

Let cool.

Add a teaspoon of white vinegar.

Then, add the eggs and let them soak for a couple hours.

I left a few overnight.

Color Sources

orange peels {soft yellow}

spinach and mixed greens {pale, dull green}

red cabbage {shades of blue, blue-grey}

paprika {golden yellow/orange}

frozen raspberries {pink}

frozen blackberries {lavender}

leftover red wine {purple}

cranberry juice {odd shade of brown}

I'll admit that I had no idea what I was doing.

Things I Learned:

I now know that I probably should have just heated the cranberry juice and not added as much water, or any water at all.  Also, like conventional dyes, the longer you leave the egg submerged, the richer the final color will be.

The dyes created from the fruits and vegetables themselves produced the best results. {I suppose it makes sense that they would produce a richer color than a derivative.}

I have read that beets and turmeric make a pretty bright pink, and sunny yellow, respectively.  I did not have those items on hand, so I didn't try them.  However, next year, I might add those to the list.  I may also try mixing colors {example, turmeric and red cabbage supposedly makes a pretty green}.

I think the results are beautiful.

I suppose it depends on the look you are trying to achieve.
Personally, I like the look of these.
I like the pastels and more neutral, natural shades.

Best of all, they are safe to consume.

Have you ever made your own natural egg dye? 
 I would love to hear about your experience, tips, and tricks.

Joined The Scoop...pop over and check out all the other great ideas.
Participating in Give Me The Goods Monday...hop over for a visit!