Happy Egg Day! Sharing a Natural Method to Dye Your Easter Eggs.

Dying eggs is like a little art project that pack member Natalia really enjoys, as it reminds her of her childhood days back in Romania.  Some of our friends have asked about this egg dying method for a while now, so we thought of sharing it on our blog. 

To avoid artificial store-bought dyes, we use dry onion leaves.  Throughout the year, we store the dry onion leaves we peel off the onions we use for cooking and keep them in a cool place in a paper bag.  When Easter rolls around, we have enough to dye our eggs.  The more onion leaves, the darker the red.

What you need:

1. Eggs.

2. Hand picked leaves from the garden -- the more shape, the prettier the final design on the egg.  Think parsley or clover leaves. 

3. Nude color stockings -the cheapest pair you can find at the store.

4. Light color sewing string. 

5. Scissors.

6. Dry onion leaves you place in a pot.

Step 1.  Place front size of leaf on the egg.  Make sure the egg is totally dry (pat dry with paper towel if needed as a wet egg might affect the final coloring).

Step 2. Place stocking on top of leaf + egg.

Step 3.  Twist the stocking tight in the back of the egg, but be careful not to crack the egg.

Step 4.  Wrap the string tight around the stocking 5-6 times.

Step 5.  Tie a couple of knots.

 Step 6.  Cut the string and the stocking.

Step 7.  Repeat for each egg.  Place eggs on the bed of dried onion leaves and fill the pot with cold water.  The water level must be high enough to cover the eggs.

Step 8.  Simmer the eggs on low heat for 2 to 2.5 hours until the color is dark red.  You don't want to over boil as the eggs will crack.

Step 9.  Turn the heat off and let the eggs and water cool down a bit so you can handle them with your hands.  Take each egg out one at a time, cut the back of the stocking, and wipe the leaf off each egg.

Step 10.  With a cotton ball soaked in a little oil, coat the eggs for a shinny finish.  And viola!

Happy Easter!
Thanks for visiting!