Naturally Dyed Eggs with Herbal Tea
Make these naturally dyed eggs with herbal tea to add beautiful color to Easter eggs! There are many different shades of herbal tea from light like chamomile to dark like elderberry. Skip the store bought egg dye and use plants instead!
Servings 12 servings
Calories 78kcal
Cost $10
Ingredients
- 12-24 hard boiled eggs white eggs work best
- 1/4 cup dried hibiscus flowers
- 1/4 cup dried elderberries
- 1/4 cup fresh turmeric root sliced
- 1/2 cup dried lavender flowers
- 1/2 cup dried calendula flowers
- 1/2 cup dried chamomile flowers
- 1/4 cup dried rose hips
- 1/4 cup dried hawthorn berries or dried goji berries
- boiling water
- 1 tsp alum per herb color
- 1 Tbsp white vinegar per herb color
Instructions
- Put 1/4-1/2 cup of each dried herb into a pint jar.
- Then boil some water and pour it over the herbs in the jars. Let the herbal teas steep several hours or until cool, then strain out the herbs with a fine mesh sieve.
- Add either one teaspoon of alum or one tablespoon of vinegar to the tea. The tea can also be split up into two jars if you want to do one with alum and the other with vinegar.
- Add an egg or two to each herbal dye color. Cover the jar with a lid and put in the refrigerator. The eggs should sit in the herbal dye for several hours or even overnight.
- Remove the eggs from the dye and set them on a rack to dry. The eggs can be dipped in the dye a second time for a stronger color if desired.
- Refrigerate the colored eggs after they have fully dried.
Notes
- First hard boil the number of eggs that you would like to color (if you are using farm fresh eggs the steaming method works best).
- Some other herbs and flowers you could try are wild violets, dandelion flowers, dandelion root, forsythia flowers, lilac flowers, chive blossoms, or any other edible plants or flowers that you may have growing!
- Green tea, rooibos, nettle, or chaga are other options you could try as well.
- Other popular non-herb choices for natural egg dyeing are beets, red or yellow onion skins, red cabbage, blueberries, blackberries, or spinach.
- Alum and vinegar will do different things to the coloration of the eggs for each herbal tea that is used (see blog post for more info).
Nutrition
Serving: 1egg | Calories: 78kcal