Last week I wrote about coloring easter eggs using vegetable dyes.

In my opinion, if you want to try coloring easter eggs without chemicals, onion skins are the way to go!  It’s easy to do, and makes really interesting abstract patterns on the egg shells.  Plus, you end up with a bunch pretty hard boiled eggs in your fridge for eating!

I first heard about coloring eggs with onion skins from Zak’s mom, who did this as a child in Scotland.  In Scottish tradition, you bring decorated hard boiled eggs outside on easter, then roll them down a hill until they crack, and then eat them.   This is similar to our easter egg rolls in America, except we do those on flat ground, and roll them with a spoon!  Either way, eggs are a symbol of spring and rebirth, and people have been decorating eggs for easter for centuries.

If you want an inexpensive easter project, I highly recommend trying this!

What you need:

Eggs

Onions

Cheesecloth or pantyhose

Method:

1) Remove brownish onion skin from onions, keeping pieces as big as possible.

2) Soak skins in water for 5 minutes, to soften.

3) Wrap each egg in onion skins.  Then wrap in cheesecloth (or slip into an old pair of pantyhose, and tie off!) – this is just to hold the skins against the eggs during the boiling process, so get creative!

4) Hard boil the eggs with the onion skins on.  (Put eggs in a pan, cover with cold water.  Bring to boil.  Once boiling, turn off heat and cover pan.  Let sit for 15 minutes.  Drain off hot water and fill with cold water. Let sit for another 15 minutes).

5) Once cool, unwrap eggs and allow to dry.

Et voila! Naturally colored easter eggs.  If you try this, please let us know in a comment.

Need some ideas for what to do with all the hard boiled eggs? How about making deviled eggs or Zak’s favorite, Pickled Eggs (recipe coming soon!).