Every year, my sister and I color Easter eggs together the night before the holiday.  It’s a fun little tradition that we started when we were younger and it just stuck even though we don’t live together anymore.  I never really gave too much thought to the artificial dyes and ingredients that are inherent in this tradition, but this year I decided to take a more natural approach.  I used matcha to make green eggs, and turmeric to make yellow ones.

The Steps

First, you have to hard boil your eggs.  I’m notoriously bad at this, so you should probably just google this step instead of heeding my advice.

Next, you will need a jar large enough for 2-3 eggs.  Fill it about halfway with water (you can always fill it more later) and add about 1 tbsp of matcha or turmeric to the water and shake it well.  Add 1-2 tbsp white vinegar, and shake again.

(Peep my repurposed salsa jar #mild ^)

Add the eggs to the jars (I put 2 in each jar) and carefully spin the jars around to mix it up without cracking the eggs.  Add more water if necessary until the eggs are completely submerged.  Place the jars in the fridge for a few hours or overnight to let the natural color of the matcha and turmeric seep into the egg shells.

When you are ready to take the eggs out of the water,  all you have to do is dry them off well and set them up in a super pretty centerpiece for your Easter table!  It works best if you carefully rinse them, pat dry, and then allow to air dry for 5-10 minutes before handling too much.  If you rub them while they are fresh out of the jars, you can rub the color off.

You could probably try using beetroot powder to get a pretty pink color, or blue spirulina for that beautiful turquoise.  The turmeric worked really nicely, but the matcha didn’t achieve that rich green color I was hoping for – I might not have used enough, since I had used the bigger jar for these.

In conclusion…

Was this more complicated than opening up a box of Paas like a normal kid and coloring Easter eggs the traditional way?  Absolutely.  It’s messier, takes longer, and you don’t have as much creative flexibility because the eggs have to be just one solid color.  You could probably crack the shell before dropping it into the dyed water to get a crackle effect (without having to worry about the die getting onto the egg whites because it’s totally edible!)  But asides from that, there isn’t much you can do the vary the design.  That said, I think there’s something to be said about simplicity, and I think it’s also important to be mindful of the dyes and chemicals that we handle on a regular basis and put into our bodies.  This is a fun way to take a popular craft and healthify it with natural ingredients.  I would recommend this method of dying Easter eggs!

Will you try it?  Tag me in your Easter photos with your naturally dyed Easter eggs!  @LiftinLuxe #LiftinLuxe

Stay fit and free from chemicals and dyes, all!  Have a wonderful Easter (or Passover, if that’s more your thing)!  🙂