This Easter, brighten up the holiday with beautiful, naturally dyed eggs. You’ll be impressed at how nature can create a rainbow of colored eggs, with the benefit of no added chemicals or artificial dyes. It’s a fun experiment for parents and kids alike, and will be appreciated by the Easter Bunny!

Color chart

• Red onion skins = soft lavender to red
• Beet juice or cranberry juice = pink
• Paprika = orange
• Yellow onion leaves, turmeric, orange/lemon peels, cumin, or carrot tops = yellow
• Dill seeds or Yellow Delicious apple peels = gold
• Spinach or grass = green
• Red cabbage leaves = robin’s egg blue (yep, blue not red)
• Blueberries = blue
• Grape juice = lavender
• Strong coffee = brown

Materials

• Desired natural ingredients (above)
• White vinegar
• Eggs
• Water

Directions

1. If using store-bought eggs, wash eggs with mild dish soap. Store-bought eggs have a coating of oil that farm eggs do not. Washing the oil off allows the eggs to hold the color better.
2. Hard-boil eggs.
3. Add 2-3 tablespoons of vinegar to a quart of water along with your natural ingredients. If it is a solid, like spinach, you can use up to 4 cups. For spices, you may need about 4 tablespoons.
4. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Let cool; strain.
5. Dip the hard-boiled eggs into the dye. The longer they are in the dye, the more colorful they will be!
6. Turn the eggs every so often so the color distributes evenly.
7. Allow to dry in egg cartons. Refrigerate eggs you intend to eat.