A traditional Easter custom, besides baking Easter cakes, is colored eggs, which mark the birth of a new life. But in order to decorate them beautifully, you need to know some secrets of art.
Recipe content:
- Natural dyes
- The meaning of colors
- Decorating
- Other ways to dye eggs
- Useful tips for coloring eggs
- Video recipe
Painting eggs for Easter is a fun and interesting activity that brings all family members closer. According to church tradition, this is usually done on Maundy Thursday, when it is customary to clean the house, swim and have a haircut. Easter eggs and krashanki are the first to be eaten at the festive table. In addition, they denote a talisman, so on Easter there is a custom of giving them. They are presented to relatives, friends, neighbors, guests who have come, taken with them on a visit, distributed to the poor and brought to church.
Today, on the eve of the Resurrection of Christ, all stores sell a variety of food colors, films, sequins, stickers and other decors for decorating eggs with Easter symbols. However, many housewives still paint eggs using the old methods: onion skins, beet juice, red cabbage, etc. Today we will talk about the various ways of dyeing eggs for Easter.
- Caloric content per 100 g - 155 kcal.
- Servings - Any Amount
- Cooking time - 2 hours
Ingredients:
Eggs - any quantity
Natural dyes
Natural dyes are completely harmless to health. For a more intense color, after boiling, continue to keep the eggs in the colored broth until they acquire the desired shade. Remove the painted ones from the broth with a slotted spoon, put them on a plate and cool or decorate further.
- Onion peel … Remove the husk from the onion, cover it with water, boil and cook for 30-40 minutes over medium heat. Cool the broth and strain. Then dip the eggs into it, boil and cook hard boiled for 7-10 minutes after boiling. Onion skins impart shades from light yellow to bright red-brown.
- Spinach, nettle or brilliant green solution … Dip the eggs in a saucepan along with the spinach and nettle leaves. Cook them hard-boiled for up to 10 minutes. The greens of the grass will give a green color. You can also get green Easter eggs with a solution of brilliant green, in which already boiled eggs are placed and kept until the desired color.
- Turmeric and violet … To get the yellow color of dyes, the testicles are boiled in water with the addition of turmeric, purple - with violet flowers. If you add lemon juice to violets, then you get a lavender color.
- Walnut shell … The method of coloring is the same, eggs are boiled with walnut shells and brown or light beige are obtained.
- Cranberry, blackberry and beet juice … These products will turn pink. To get beet juice, boil peeled beets with vinegar until tender. Boil the eggs in the resulting broth. First wash the cranberries or blackberries, squeeze out the juice in any way convenient for you, and then boil the eggs in it in the same way.
- Carrot juice … Boil peeled carrots to get a yellow broth. Dip the prepared eggs into the juice and cook hard.
- Coffee, hibiscus tea, mint tea … Boil eggs in ground coffee, get them brown or beige, in hibiscus tea - pink, with mint leaves - pistachio.
The meaning of colors
- Red is the joy of life.
- Yellow - sun, moon, rich harvest.
- Blue - health, sky, air.
- Green - spring, renewal of nature.
- Black is sorrow.
- Black and red - life as it is
- Black and white - memory, respect for departed souls.
- Multicolor - love, family happiness.
Decorating
- Blue stains … Boiled, colored and dried eggs, rub with red cabbage leaves.
- Specks … Wash the eggs, roll them in rice, buckwheat, millet or other grains so that the cereals stick to them. Wrap them tightly in cheesecloth, tie them tightly and cook in dye.
- Abstract drawing (stains) … Wrap the eggs with onion husks and wrap in cheesecloth. Cook them hard-boiled in any dye.
- Stripes … Put a few rubber bands on the egg or rewind with threads and cook in dyes.
- Drawings … Attach any drawing on the egg (cut out of paper, leaves of parsley, dill, flowers, etc.). Put it in a stocking and tie it tightly. Boil in any dye. When it's cooked, remove the stocking and remove the drawing. The pysanka will be colored, and a clean place will remain in the place of the drawing.
- "Silk" coloring … Wrap a raw egg with a cloth made of natural silk, fix it with a thread and boil it with the addition of vinegar. They will have exactly the same pattern as on the fabric.
- Wax painting … Use a match or a toothpick to wax the egg from a burning candle. Dip it in warm dye (hot water will melt the wax) and leave for the desired time. After, remove the wax, the egg will color, but where wax is applied, no.
- Scratches … Scratch any pattern with a needle on dyed eggs that are almost cold.
- Lace … Wrap the eggs in lace and cook in dyes. When the lace is removed, a beautiful pattern will remain on the surface.
Other ways to dye eggs
- Water based markers … Use children's harmless markers to apply any pattern to the boiled eggs. To make the drawing neat, first outline the sketch with a pencil.
- Acrylic paints … Dilute the paints to a liquid consistency, dip the toothbrush in paints and sprinkle it on the boiled painted Easter eggs.
- Children's paints, gouache, pencils … For paints you need a thin brush, for a pencil - a soft lead.
- Sequins … Apply glue to the shell in a patterned manner and dip the egg into a plate filled with cosmetic or special pastry glitter.
Useful tips for coloring eggs
- Use stainless steel dishes, as they will not stain.
- Work with gloves to avoid getting your hands dirty.
- Wash eggs before staining, wipe with soda, vinegar or alcohol solution. This will help the paint to flow evenly.
- So that the eggs do not crack during cooking and the protein does not leak out of them, add to the water - tbsp. salt (per 1 liter of water).
- You can paint quail eggs. But the exposure time in the dye must be shortened so that there is a contrast with the speckles. They are boiled for no more than 5 minutes.
- To dry the eggs neatly, place them on the needles inserted in a 2x2 cm square into the foam.
- After complete staining and cooling of the dyes, they can be rubbed with a cotton swab dipped in vegetable oil. This will enhance the brightness of the color, adding shine and saturation.
- It is not recommended to eat eggs that are dyed with non-natural dyes. In this case, it is better to paint them blown out. Then they can be stored for years.
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