Naturally-dyed Easter eggs, a fun way to get Easter started. Dying eggs with onion skins is not only a lot easier, but also healthier, since no chemicals come into contact with the eggs. You get a lovely red colour easily, and quickly too.
Why do we colour eggs red for Easter?
Dyed Easter eggs are found on every table in Romania on Easter day. Although other colours like yellow, blue, green or purple are quite common, red is the main colour, as it symbolises the blood of Jesus Christ.
Colouring eggs red is one of the many beautiful traditions we have for Easter. There are quite a few legends about why we dye eggs red for Easter. One of them says that, when Jesus was crucified, a woman who was passing by carrying a basket of eggs, stopped to look at Jesus. She put the basket next to the cross and blood poured over the eggs, colouring them in red.
Special egg colour can be bought, quite cheaply too, but then, that’s not really healthy. After all it’s chemical, so better use natural ingredients. You still get a lovely colour though.
Romania is mainly an Orthodox country and Easter day rarely falls on the same day as the Catholic or Protestant Easter, and that is because we follow a different calendar.
Even so, as l live in the UK, l always get very excited about Easter, since over here it is usually celebrated first. One can never have too many Easter treats, and if l can have twice, why not!
How do you colour eggs naturally using onions skin?
Unlike other countries, in Romania we don’t really eat chocolate eggs for Easter, but real eggs dyed in different colours. The eggs are usually dyed on Maundy Thursday, but any other day closer to Easter would do too.
If I organise myself well, which I hardly ever do, a few days before I start colouring the eggs, I keep the onions skins rather than throwing them away whenever I cook a dish that asks for onions. In this way I don’t need to peel them all off at once. If not, I peel them off, then chop the onions, and freeze them into separate freezer bags to be used at later dates.
Note! Make sure you gently wash and dry the eggs before adding them to the pan, if the eggs are not 100% clean, the colouring might not be even.
- add the clean eggs to a pan
- cover the with onions skins
- add water and vinegar
- boil for about 15-20 minutes until you get the colour you like
The longer you leave them to boil, the darker the colour, so it’s up to you. Super simple, isn’t it?
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Naturally-Dyed Easter eggs, a fun way to get Easter started. Dying eggs with onion skins is not only a lot easier, but also healthier, since no chemicals come into contact with the eggs.
- 8 eggs
- 8 red onions
- 2 tbsp vinegar
- 4 cups water
- oil to add shine to the eggs
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Add the eggs to a pan, remove the skins from the onions and place over the eggs. You can chop the onions and freeze to use later on when you cook, no point in throwing them away.
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Next, cover the eggs and onion skins with water and add the vinegar.
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Boil for at least 20 minutes, so that the eggs can get a lovely colour. You can leave them longer, if you want a darker colour.
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Remove from the heat and place them on a kitchen towel. Polish them with any oil to make them nice and shiny.
Gorgeous looking!