The Dye of the Egg

Coloring eggs for Easter has always been a tradition in my family.  Every Saturday before Easter throughout my childhood, and even as and adult before I had kids we would dye eggs.  It is one my Aunt’s favorite traditions.  Today was Easter coloring day at our house.   I thought I would give you some egg tinting tips in hopes that you carry on this tradition at your house.

For as long as I can remember, we have used the old standby kit made by PAAS for our egg coloring needs.  I have tried food coloring but the colors never seem to be as vibrant and I have tried the fancy pants kits but they don’t seem to be the right color tone or they rub off or some other darn thing.  So the PAAS kit is the one we use.

 

Boiling your eggs:

Prior to this actual egg coloring you need to boil your eggs.  I learned recently that older eggs actually work the best for boiling, because as you go to peel them (which you will eventually do to make yummy concoctions like egg salad, potato salad or deviled eggs) it makes the peeling MUCH easier.  This is how I boil my eggs…straight from Betty Crocker herself.  Place your week or two week old eggs in a large pan and add warm water.   Be sure to cover the eggs and don’t stack your eggs or crowd them…this will cause them to crack.  Gently place the pan on the stove and bring the water to a hard boil.  Once they are boiling, cover them with a lid and shut the heat off.  Let them sit there for  20 minutes.  Don’t take the lid off, don’t’ poke at them, just go and make a snack or something.  Once your timer dings, then take the pot put it in the sink and run cold water over the eggs so they cool gradually.   Run the water until it is cold and let the eggs sit for another ten minutes or so.  Then I dry the eggs and place them back in the carton they came in.  Normally, I do my egg boiling the night before so that you can jump right into coloring.  I have learned kids are not patient while waiting for eggs to boil and more importantly the color sticks better on cold eggs.

Coloring your eggs: 

I use the white vinegar method on the back of the box and just add some water so I don’t have to use quite as much vinegar.  But I’m fairly sure the people at PAAS have done tons of research and all of their methods probably work just fine.  So just follow the box.  Normally I only use one packet of color but my Aunt told me that if you buy two packages of color and double up your colors are even brighter.  Who doesn’t want bright Easter eggs?  *grin*  Then the dye process begins.  (Be sure to cover your table with newspaper or some other protector. ) Sometimes we decorate our eggs with crayons or write names on them as the color will resist the wad.  And then we give our eggs a nice long color bath so until the color is just right.  

This is also the time to consume any and all available Easter candy.  Today we had Jelly Belly’s from grandma and had a great time trying to guess the flavors.  However, there is such a things as too many Jelly Belly’s.  After you are happy with the color, place your egg back in the carton to dry a little bit, and then flip them so you can dry the water out of the bottom.

Let the eggs dry and bit and then decorate as you like with stickers or stamps or drawing or whatever your heart desires and voila Easter eggs.  Enjoy and please remember perfect eggs aren’t important, it’s the memories and traditions your family  will remember.

Happy Easter!