What dyes to paint eggs with. How to color eggs for Easter with natural dyes: options, patterns

Eco-friendliness is a trend today, and it’s not just about following fashion, but also about taking care of your health. Many have already tried to dye eggs for Easter with natural dyes: tea or coffee, especially since different types of raw materials produce interesting, unusual shades. The days of synthetic dyes are becoming a thing of the past, and despite the fact that they are labeled “food grade”, they contain a lot of “E’s”, and some of them are not so safe at all.

Eggs colored with natural dyes are absolutely harmless even for small children: they can be allowed to play with colored eggs, eat them, and not be afraid that some of the chemical dye will transfer to the whites. Completely environmentally friendly, and with the right painting and choice of ingredients, it’s also very beautiful!

How to prepare eggs for dyeing with tea or coffee

Handling natural dyes is not so easy, and if you do the same as with synthetic food dyes, the effect will be unstable and weak. Use these tips from environmental painting professionals to ensure you're happy with the results the first time.

• When coloring with natural dyes, use only white eggs: the color on them will be pure, beautiful and quite bright. On brown ones, the dyes adhere weakly, and sometimes it is completely unnoticeable that they were dyed.
• After boiling the eggs, rinse them well in warm water using soda to remove the slightest plaque and dirt, and wipe with vinegar to degrease and improve the adhesion of the paint to the surface. The paint will apply evenly.
• If you plan to get a rich color, you can undercook the eggs for 1-2 minutes. Then you'll simmer them in the coloring over low heat so they cook well. However, if the future paints are already ready, it’s okay; a couple of extra minutes of heating won’t hurt them.

How to dye eggs with black and green tea, mate, hibiscus and coffee

Various natural ingredients are suitable for coloring eggs. There are many types of tea alone, and different varieties produce unique colors. Try all the options available to you and you will see that you can get a fairly large number of shades.

It is advisable to add 1-2 tablespoons of vinegar to all natural dyes to fix the color and make it brighter.

How long to keep eggs in tea or coffee?

• To get pastel colors, 15-20 minutes in hot dye is enough (more precisely indicated in specific recipes).
• To ensure a rich color, place the egg in a container with dye and heat for 2-3 minutes over low heat, observing the color change.
• There are recipes in which it is advisable to leave the eggs in the infusion overnight, in this case you will get maximum color brightness.

If you leave the eggs overnight in an infusion with the leaves, you will most likely get a “marbling” effect.

Dyeing eggs with black coffee

Usually, instant coffee is used, in granules or powder, and in this case, the cheaper, the better, since it will contain quite a lot of dyes, stabilizers and other chemicals that will give the eggs a bright coffee color.

Proportions: 1 heaped teaspoon for each egg. Paint 5 eggs - take 5 spoons of coffee.

Pour water into a saucepan over coffee and boil over medium heat for about a minute.

Or place the eggs in the same container and boil for another 3-5 minutes for a delicate coffee color.

Or fill the paints with the solution and leave for 3-5 hours for a bright chocolate color.

Dye eggs with black tea

Black tea is good because it gives a very bright color, and you can dye even naturally brown eggs this way, and they will look fresh and interesting. However, it also looks good and rich on whites.

Proportions - 2-4 tablespoons per 0.5 - 1 liter of hot water.

Brew strong tea, dip future eggs in it for about 15 minutes. If the shade is weak, you can boil the eggs in the leaves, or leave them overnight.

An interesting idea: if you prepare very strong tea (chifir) in the proportion of 8 teaspoons per 0.5 liter of boiling water, and pour it over eggs for an hour, you will get a very rich color. If you paint white eggs, you can then scratch out subtle drawings or inscriptions; they will be white and contrasting against a dark background.

Painting eggs with hibiscus

This is an interesting creative experiment. The fact is that, depending on the concentration, time of dyeing, the specific brand and many other factors, the shade can turn out from soft lilac to gray-blue and even rich blue. Only white eggs can be dyed this way.

Proportions: 1-2 tablespoons per 0.5 liters of water. For a bright blue color - 100 grams of hibiscus per liter of water.

Brew the hibiscus and let it brew for 5 minutes.

Dip the egg into the infusion for 2-3 minutes.

Take it out with a spoon, wipe it off and look at the color.

If you need it brighter, repeat.

Do not leave the eggs in the hibiscus for a long time, as there is a risk of a gray color appearing, which does not look very festive.

If hibiscus gives blue shades, but you want reddish ones, add a couple of drops of lemon juice or a couple of grains of citric acid to the infusion.

Dyeing mate eggs

Mate tea gives a very original soft pistachio color, and if you keep the eggs longer, the shade will be quite green.

Proportions – 50 grams of tea per liter of water.

Brew the mate, let it brew for 15 minutes.

Bring to a boil again.

Dip the eggs into the infusion and leave for 1 hour.

Dye eggs with green tea

Green tea is rarely used, as it does not give a rich shade, however, you can experiment with it to get a yellow or soft green color.

Proportions – 2 tablespoons of loose leaf tea per 0.5 liters of water.

Brew tea, cover, let steep for 5 minutes.

Place the eggs in the solution for 15-20 minutes, remove and check.

If the color is weak, immerse for another 15-20 minutes, boil in the infusion or leave in it overnight.

How to get the right color?

• Pink - hibiscus, most likely - with a couple of drops of lemon juice.
• Blue or blue - hibiscus, depending on the concentration.
• Pale yellow and lemon – green tea.
• Light green and pistachio – green tea and mate.
• Chocolate and coffee - instant coffee.
• Dark brown, red-brown – black tea.

It is more convenient to lower the eggs into the infusion in a high container, 0.5 - 1 liter, in this case 4-6 eggs are usually placed there at once. But you can experiment with glasses, in this case brew the leaves in a glass and place 1-2 eggs in it - this process usually takes longer.

Rub dried eggs with sunflower or olive oil and their color will be bright and beautiful. Dip a napkin or cotton pad into the oil and apply a small amount to the egg, as if polishing it. If the dye smears and comes off, it means that it has not yet been absorbed well enough, but usually there is no problem.

Conclusions:

• Natural eco-friendly dyes are much healthier and safer than synthetic food dyes. For children, it is better to choose natural colors.
• You can color eggs with instant coffee, black and green tea, mate, and hibiscus.
• Immerse the eggs in the dye for 5-15 minutes, then remove and control the shade. For the most saturated color, you can leave the eggs in the dye overnight, or boil them in the dye for 2-3 minutes.
• If the egg cracks and the dye gets on the white, it is absolutely safe to eat.

A traditional Easter gift is a painted egg as a symbol of the birth of a new life. They eat it first at the Easter table, and give it to relatives and neighbors who come to congratulate, take it with them when they go to visit, be sure to give it to the poor and leave it in the church. There is also a custom of giving colored eggs, followed by the celebration of Christ.

In this article we will tell you how to dye eggs for Easter. Be sure to involve younger family members in this process. For them it will be a useful creative activity, and for you it will be an additional opportunity to spend time with the children.

Plant leaves

Take a leaf from a house or wild plant, place it on the egg, and put a nylon stocking or gauze on top. Secure the ends of the fabric with an elastic band. Color the egg according to the instructions on the package.

Scotch tape, electrical tape, self-adhesive paper

Easter eggs painted sequentially in two dyes of different colors using electrical tape look interesting:

For example, the Easter egg in the series of photographs above was first covered with a strip of tape in one direction and painted yellow. After the paint had dried, we covered it with a strip of tape of the same width, but in a different direction, and painted it blue. Blue and yellow when mixed produce green. The child will be interested in experimenting with mixing different colors. As a result of such entertaining experiments, he will not only learn how to paint eggs, but also learn how to get additional colors by mixing the main ones.

Bank rubber band for money

Lace

One way to make marble eggs

You can first paint the eggs one color in your usual way. Then prepare another dye, add it to the water along with vegetable oil, and stir the liquid with a fork. After this, one by one, immerse the eggs in the coloring solution, trying to collect as many oil patterns as possible on the surface of the liquid. Dip the eggs with a napkin and let them dry.

If you don't have egg dyes, you can color the eggs with a permanent marker.

Or felt-tip pens

You can color a hard-boiled egg that has not yet cooled down with wax pencils (crayons). At the same time, they will melt and create beautiful patterns on it. When painting an egg, place it on a stand, and after finishing the work, let it dry for an hour.

Easter eggs painted with silk scraps

Cut the fabric into pieces, wrap it around the eggs with the right side inward, wrap it with a rag on top, and tie it tightly. Boil the eggs for 20 minutes.

Remove the shreds. To give the eggs a beautiful shine, brush them with vegetable oil after they have dried.

Speckled Easter eggs

To get the marble effect of eggs colored with onion peels, you need to wrap the eggs in onion peels and tie some cotton material on top. Cook for 15-20 minutes.

Eggs dyed in turmeric decoction

Add 2-3 tablespoons of turmeric to hot water. To make the color more saturated, you need to boil the water. You need to be careful when boiling: if the water runs away, there will be serious problems with cleaning the stove, because... Turmeric is a fairly strong dye. In the resulting broth you can either boil eggs (you will get a richer color) or simply soak the boiled ones.

Eggs dyed in beet juice

Eggs dyed in red cabbage infusion

Eggs dyed in black tea infusion

One of the most ancient traditions of the spring holiday is the coloring of Easter eggs.
Let's figure out how to paint eggs for Easter to get an original color and pattern

First the general rules:

✔ To prevent eggs from bursting during cooking, they must be kept warm or at room temperature for about an hour; when boiling, you can add a tablespoon of salt to the water; small holes can be pierced at one end of each egg.

✔ Do not overcook the eggs, otherwise they will only be beautiful on the outside, but the inside of the yolk will turn bluish.

✔ The longer the egg is boiled, the more likely it is that the paint from the broth will be deeply absorbed into it.

✔ Before painting eggs, you need to rub them with soapy water or alcohol - the paint will go on more evenly.

✔ When coloring eggs, you need to add a little vinegar or lemon juice, then the paint will lie evenly. Acetic acid corrodes the shell, making the surface rougher and more susceptible to dyes.

✔ The richer the color, the more ingredients needed for the coloring solution (for example, husks).
Knowledgeable people say that the peels of homemade onions are best suited for coloring; the color of its decoction is more intense.

✔ To make the color brighter, colored eggs directly in the coloring solution can be put in the refrigerator overnight.

✔ To make colored eggs shine, they are wiped dry and greased with sunflower oil.

✔ can be stored for about 3-5 days at room temperature; at the slightest suspicion of staleness, they should not be eaten.

✔ If you didn't use up all the colored eggs this Easter, they can be a great addition to a variety of dishes from salads to sauces.

Secrets of the art: how to dye eggs using natural means

Natural, food or aniline dyes are used to dye eggs. The raw materials for obtaining vegetable paints can be flowers, leaves, grain husks, bark, roots, and berries.

Selecting the ingredients

First, let's decide on the colors: what shades can we paint the eggs in so that the dyes are flawlessly natural? In fact, the choice is not too wide: yellow, brown, blue, purple, greenish, pink, red, burgundy.

❧ Ocher (brown-yellow) - onion peel. 4 cups red onion skins. Boil eggs for 30 minutes - 1 hour. Depending on the soaking time, the eggs will turn from bright scarlet to dark red.

❧ Gilding - turmeric. Add 2-3 tablespoons of turmeric to hot water and boil to make the color more intense.

❧ Pink - cranberry, beet juice. Soak boiled eggs in cranberry or beet juice.

❧ Purple, blue - dried violets. Add violet flowers to hot water and soak overnight. Adding a little lemon juice to water will give you a lavender color.

❧ Blue - red cabbage. Two heads of finely chopped red cabbage, 500 ml water and 6 tbsp white vinegar. Soak overnight to create a deep blue color.

❧ Green- spinach, parsley. Add 1 teaspoon of soda to the mixture to obtain a purple color or boil eggs with spinach.

❧ Lavender- red grape juice. Soak eggs in grape juice.

❧ Yellow- young birch leaves. Prepare a decoction of young birch leaves and let it brew. Wash the eggs, place them in a warm infusion and cook for 10 minutes.

❧ Pastel colors- fresh frozen cranberries, blueberries, raspberries, lingonberries, elderberries. For soft pinks and blues, rub the shells with a handful of blueberries or cranberries. For pale raspberry - raspberries, for blue - elderberry.

Advice: All these berries can be bought dried at the pharmacy.

❧ Dark brown - strong coffee or black tea. Boil eggs in 250 ml of coffee or tea leaves.

General rule: Don't forget to add a tablespoon of vinegar to the paint broth.

Video instruction: Do-it-yourself dyeing eggs for Easter with natural dyes

As a result, we can completely color eggs for Easter with absolutely natural dyes.
Some will stop there, while others will also want to paint an Easter egg. In this case, we make paints from dyes.

We make paints from dyes

The simplest and safest way to make paints for painting on eggshells is... to use the yolk. Because. We need very little amount of paint for painting, then 2 yolks and 2 tbsp. enough water to make a base.

Separate the yolks and whites. Beat the yolks with water and add a few drops of plant or herbal decoction to obtain color. Don't forget to stock up on a few small containers for individual flowers.

Egg yolk paint is good for painting on thick shells. It is also suitable for applying designs to sugar cookies before they are baked.

The second way to formulate paint is to add a binder in the form of honey or molasses.

Advice: After coloring Easter eggs, to give them shine, you need to wipe them with vegetable oil.

So, mix a few drops of honey with a strong decoction of the desired color. If you want, add the yolk too. The paint will adhere better and dry faster. You can add protein. But then the color will be almost transparent, most delicate.

If you need white paint for your drawing, you need to crush regular school chalk into powder and mix it with an egg. This paint will pick up well on a brush, take a long time to dry, but will be the most durable.

Dyeing in onion skins

Onion peels are probably the most common and well-known way of coloring Easter eggs, and the color range is very diverse: from yellowish to dark blue. It all depends not only on the concentration of the decoction, but also on the color of the husk itself.

Usually, the husks begin to be collected several weeks in advance: the amount depends on the intensity of the desired color. You can also mix different types of peels: from white, red and regular onions, then the shades will be the most unexpected.
There are two ways to dye such eggs - boil them in onion broth or leave already hard-boiled eggs overnight (accordingly, the intensity of the shade will be different).

To paint eggs with onion peels you will need: eggs in the right quantity, a lot of onion peels, water, salt, vegetable oil

Eggs need to be boiled in onion skins. Therefore, to prevent the eggs from bursting, they need to be kept at room temperature for at least one hour and a couple of teaspoons of salt added to the water where the eggs will be boiled. And of course, before painting the eggs you need to wash them thoroughly.

Eggs of any color are suitable for this painting method. Collect onion peels into a wide saucepan. Fill with water until the pan is not full. And put the husks to cook over low heat. I cook the husks for 45-50 minutes to create a dark, rich paint.

When the onion skin paint is cooked, increase the heat and place the eggs directly into the pan. They are boiled together with the husk. Boiling time for eggs can range from 15 to 20 minutes. But then the eggs are well stored. During cooking, the eggs need to be turned over from time to time so that they are evenly colored. And of course, the water should completely cover the eggs.

Place the boiled colored eggs in a saucepan with cold water and set them aside to cool. When the eggs have cooled, you need to take them out and wipe them thoroughly. The finished eggs are of course colored, but not very beautiful, they are dull. To make the eggs shiny, you can grease them with regular vegetable oil.

Coloring in deciduous and herbal decoctions, and in tea

Decoctions of birch leaves, apple leaves, chamomile, nettle, etc. are ideal for coloring eggs.
It is also great to color eggs in tea: green, black and hibiscus (Sudanese rose).
Simply boil the eggs in a tea solution.

Coloring with juices of fruits and vegetables

Boiled eggs are usually rubbed with juices: carrot, beetroot, spinach or sorrel juice, you can also use red cabbage, blueberry or strawberry juice, etc. It all depends on your imagination.

Here, for example, is how to color eggs with beets.

A beautiful red-burgundy shell color is obtained by dyeing eggs in beetroot broth (10 minutes).

To do this, you need to peel the beets and grate them on a large vegetable grater. Add 1 teaspoon of vinegar. For a liter of water - three large beets. Or you can simply rub already boiled eggs with fresh beet juice.

Speckled coloring

To achieve this effect, washed wet eggs should be rolled in rice or other cereals (you can use dry peas, buckwheat, etc.) and wrapped tightly in gauze so that the cereal sticks for sure, and kept in a coloring broth.

Coloring marble eggs

Before boiling, eggs are wrapped in onion skins or leaves of some plants (by the way, it will work beautifully with nettle or spinach leaves) and boiled until cooked.
After cooking, beautiful stains form on the eggs.

Dyeing with multi-colored threads

Before cooking, prepared eggs should be wrapped in a random order with faded multi-colored threads; it is better to choose threads dyed with natural dyes and cook until cooked.
If the threads do not shed, and the eggs are boiled in a dye solution, you will just get interesting light stripes.

Dyeing in coffee

Eggs can be boiled in strong coffee or left already boiled eggs in it overnight.
There are many more folk and family methods of coloring: ink coloring, when ink is applied to boiled eggs; dyeing in silk rags, when eggs are boiled, wrapped in multi-colored rags; some dye eggs using brilliant green, fucorcin and a solution of methylene blue (but these methods are a little extreme).
When coloring eggs, you should rely on your experience and skill.

Modern technologies have made adjustments to dyeing methods and opened up new possibilities.

But the question immediately arises: how to safely color eggs so that they can then be eaten?

Dyes are developed specifically to restore the natural color of products lost during processing or to make colorless products more attractive; this includes drinks, ice cream, and confectionery. So, in principle, any food coloring is relatively harmless - if used in the right proportions.
There are two methods of painting: hot and cold. With the hot method, eggs are boiled with paint; with the cold method, already prepared boiled eggs are kept in a dye solution. To ensure that the paint lays evenly, vinegar or lemon juice is added to the coloring solution.

Food coloring should be diluted according to the factory instructions. The most suitable containers for such paints are glass jars with a wide neck.

Today there are three types of food dyes - mixed, synthetic and natural.

Dangerous dyes

Mixed and synthetic dyes, as a rule, are used in large industrial enterprises and allow you to obtain any desired shade. They are practically not used in everyday life, and they are the ones that are subject to basic safety requirements and legal standards.

Aniline dyes are available in powder or tablet form. They are sold in hardware stores. You need to buy those that are intended for home dyeing of wool products. Prepare the concentrate according to the instructions. Divide half a liter of concentrate into three parts, pour into glass jars, add 150-200 grams of boiled water and 2 tablespoons of 9 percent vinegar to each of the three parts. If desired, you can add a little paint of a different color to the first two parts to get a wide range of shades.

Some aniline dyes are poisonous and are only suitable for dyeing souvenir Easter eggs. This egg should not be eaten.
The most harmful effects on human health are caused by the following dyes, which can be identified by labeling - even with sweet powder they must be indicated on the pack. When buying bags of dye powders, you should also pay attention to the presence of these substances in order to protect yourself and your family: egg shells are porous, and harmful substances can penetrate deeper into the protein. So, you should be wary of 6 dyes that public organizations are seeking to ban:

• E102 - tartrazine;
• E104 - yellow quiniline (quinolone);
• E110 - yellow sunset(sunset);
• E122 - azorubine (carmoisine, carmine);
• E124 - Ponceau 4P (crimson);
• E129 - red charming speaker.
• In Ukraine, due to the harmful effects on the human body, the use of dyes E121 - citrus red 2, E123 - Amaranth for food purposes is prohibited.

Dyeing eggs in aniline and food dyes occurs by bathing. The egg is placed on a plastic spoon and dipped in paint. The paint contains acid, and if the egg is soaked in food paint for more than five minutes, and in aniline paint for more than three, the calcium in the top layer of the shell will be damaged, the egg will be unevenly colored and will be hopelessly spoiled. Do not dip multiple eggs into a paint can at once. Having painted one egg, remove it from the paint, carefully blot it with a soft napkin and begin painting another. There are food dyes that only color eggs during cooking. They are suitable for making plain dyes.

Needless to say, coloring eggs for Easter is a wonderful way to spend a fun family evening with children or friends?
However, if there are small children in the family, try to do without aniline dyes. The guys will certainly want to “help” you in preparing Easter eggs. You simply “can’t do without them.” But there he licked his finger, there he rubbed his eyes, he inhaled the fumes - and so he got poisoned... Food paints are not as bright as aniline paints, but health is more valuable

The ancient legend about the Easter egg tells that, coming to the Emperor in the morning, Mary gave him a red egg and exclaimed: “Christ is Risen!” Some researchers believe that such a gift was caused by Mary's poverty, and the very coloring of the egg in a bright red color served to attract the attention of the Emperor. However, throughout the world, the Easter egg is considered a symbol of the beginning of a new life for Christ, and the red color represents His blood. Therefore, the red or red-brown color of holiday eggs is still considered traditional. Our ancestors painted eggs in a traditional color, using available materials - natural dyes (onion skins or beets). Although nowadays the market is replete with a variety of artificial dyes, stickers and other materials for decorating holiday eggs, for many, natural methods of coloring one of the main symbols of the Easter holiday still come first. If for some reason you forgot to collect onion peels for the holiday or there are not a single beetroot in the house, then try coloring the eggs with ordinary black tea. You will get a wonderful result - evenly colored and beautiful Easter eggs! I described in detail how to color eggs with black tea for Easter in this article. These also turn out very beautiful.




Ingredients:

- 3 chicken eggs,
- 600 milliliters of purified water,
- 40 grams of black tea.

Recipe with photos step by step:

To obtain an even and beautiful color for Easter eggs, it is necessary that they are initially clean. Therefore, before painting the eggs, wash them thoroughly with water and ordinary laundry soap or baking soda, then rinse them several times to remove any remaining detergent.
After this, place clean chicken eggs in a ladle, pour in purified water so that the water covers them completely and cook for about 8-10 minutes.




While the eggs are cooling, prepare the tea leaves. To do this, pour rolled tea leaves into a deep and fairly wide saucepan, pour 600 milliliters of boiling water over them, cover the saucepan with a lid, and boil the tea for about 5 minutes. Leave the tea to steep for another five minutes.




Pour tea into cups, place boiled eggs and leave to color for an hour, periodically turning the eggs for best coloring.










After this, transfer the container with the eggs and tea leaves to the refrigerator and leave overnight or for 5-6 hours. After this period of time, you will receive beautiful holiday eggs, evenly colored with natural pigment! Look again

1. Onion peel is the most famous and accessible method to everyone. Eggs can be colored from yellow to red-brown. The color depends on the concentration of the decoction. You need to prepare a decoction of onion peels and let it brew. If you want the color to be more saturated, you need to take more husks and cook it for about half an hour before adding the eggs to the broth.

Place the eggs in the infusion, bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes. Remove and cool.
2. To make the eggs yellow or golden, they are painted using birch leaves. The decoction is prepared from leaves, or dry ones, of young birch and infused for about half an hour. Wash the eggs, put them in a warm infusion, cook for 10 minutes. After boiling, remove and cool.

3. Rub already boiled eggs with juice (beetroot, carrot, spinach juice).

4. Place the eggs in a saucepan and cover them with water. Add a teaspoon of vinegar. Boil eggs for 15 minutes with natural coloring additives.

Light red - beets or blueberries.

Orange - onion.

Light yellow - oranges or lemons, carrots.

Yellow - turmeric roots, walnut shells.

Light green - spinach and nettle leaves.

Green - green apples.

Blue - red cabbage leaves.

Beige or brown - coffee.

If, after coloring, you put the eggs in the same broth in the refrigerator overnight, the color will be brighter.

5. Wet eggs are rolled in dry rice, wrapped in gauze (the ends of the gauze must be tightly tied with thread so that the rice sticks to the egg) and boiled in onion skins in the usual way. The resulting eggs are speckled.

6. To get a marble effect, you need to wrap the eggs in onion skins and tie some cotton material on top.

7. When dyeing, you can wrap the eggs with multi-colored threads, then you will get interesting stains on them.

8. Boil eggs in water with soda. Wrap the eggs in multi-colored silk shreds and tie them with thread. Boil them again in this water, let them cool, and open the shreds.

9. Pick young leaves of different shapes (for example, parsley leaves). Place these leaves on the eggs, wrap them in a stocking and tie them tightly. Dip into tightly brewed onion skins. Cook for a long time.

10. Blot the eggs painted with any food paint while still hot with a napkin, place them in a glass or egg cup and paint them with a thin watercolor brush until they cool down. In this method, everything depends only on the richness of your imagination.

11. You can also paint eggs not only on the outside, but also on the inside. You need to boil them for 3 minutes, then take them out and pierce the shells with a needle in some places. Then simmer for some more time until ready in a strong brew with the addition of cloves, cinnamon and coriander.

After coloring Easter eggs, you need to wipe them with vegetable oil to add shine.