Eggs come in a variety of colors – white, light and dark brown, pink, green, but this time of year, we look for more intensely colored eggs for Easter. Aside from the purchased tablets of concentrated food dyes, or liquid food coloring, there are many  foods and flowers that can dye egg shells. They may not be as consistent, but the experimentation is a lot more fun.

You might not exactly get the colors you intend, but there is satisfaction in the process, and its a much better story to impress your friends and family with your trial-and-error efforts to “go natural”.

There are three ways to dye your eggs with foods and flowers:

1. hard boil the eggs with the dye-source
2. soak the already boiled eggs in a concentrated “tea” overnight in the refrigerator
3. crush a dye source (such as fresh or frozen berries) on the egg

To allow the dye to penetrate the outer shell of the egg, add vinegar, to the liquid you will soak the egg in.

The science: Vinegar “etches’ the exterior of the egg and softens the outer layer to accept the dye.  Soak an egg for too long, or in too much, or too strong vinegar, the shell will completely dissolve, leaving the tough outer egg membrane (which is popular with some methods of pickling eggs). Why? The egg shell is made of calcium carbonate.  Vinegar is a mild (3%) solution of acetic aced.  The calcium carbonate bond is broken by the acid, and the carbonate is released as carbon dioxide, while the calcium ions float free.  The result the shell is dissolved while the egg and egg membrane are unaffected.

A teaspoon per 4 cups of liquid is sufficient. For more intense colors, add more of the dye-source (not more vinegar). The colors  also vary with the length of soaking — as long as overnight (*ideally in the refrigerator).

One of the most interesting (and variable) ways to dye eggs is with onion skins.  The problem is that you need a great quantity of skins (and who has that many onions laying around?)  I’ve only done it once — after going to a produce store and asking if I could come in for several days and collect the dried onion skins.  They were amused (to put it mildly). I came in three days in a row, and on the fourth, the shop presented me with a huge plastic bag of the onion skins. (I think they were getting tired of seeing me.)

I used six cups of onion skins (crushed) and four cups of water. Brought the mixture to a boil, and then covered and reduced the heat to a simmer and cooked them for 60 minutes.  I let the onion skin “tea” cool before, straining, adding vinegar, and then placing hard cooked eggs in the mixture.

The red onion skins produce a deep red dyed egg, and when left in the mixture, can become nearly maroon (if not left for very long the color is more lavender/violet). The yellow onion skins result in yellow/golden/orange/brown.

Juices, and red wine, can be boiled (reduced) down to make a more intense dye. Bring to a boil and simmer on the stove until about half as much of the original volume remains.

Some things may be used ‘just as they are’, such as mustard, or red wine, or even crushed berries.  The egg shells (and your hands) will pick-up color  by coating them onto the egg, or soaking the eggs into a cup-full of the stuff.

Juices (out of the bottle) can be used to dye eggs, and, best if you add some vinegar.

Seeds, herbs, leaves, flowers require boiling, and simmering to become colorants. Simmering takes a length of time (30-60 minutes) to become intense. Cool, and strain.  (Although, with the colorant can result in some interesting effects of mottling, and spotting.)

It’s not an exact science. It’s more trial and error. (Or, at least, it has been for me.) Fascinating, and perhaps time consuming, but also rewarding and interesting. And, depending on the original shell color (white, brown, tan, pinkish, greenish) the colors are even more variable and interesting. (Although, brown eggs won’t color as well as a white egg, obviously.)

The egg color result will be a matte color. You can add shine by rubbing the eggs with a drop olive oil dried with a towel.   Sometimes the colors will be splotchy (because of the vinegar etched the egg shell irregularly).

Colors to dye eggs:

PINK/RED/VIOLET/BLUE

Raspberries, blueberries (fresh or frozen); the onion skins, beets and beet juice, cranberry juice, pomegranate juice, red grape juice, .cherry juice (concentrate), purple cabbage leaves (boiled), red wine, cinnamon, grape hyacinth blossoms.

BROWN/ORANGE/YELLOW

Strong Coffee (or used coffee grounds), instant coffee, black walnut shells (boiled for more than an hour), strong black tea, dill seeds (boiled – 1 cup seeds/1 cup water), mustard, carrot tops (boiled), carrot juice, celery seed (boiled), cumin (boiled), paprika (boiled), turmeric (boiled), dandelion flowers, daisies (flowers and greenery).

It’s that time of year, where we dye a bunch of hard-boiled eggs, and then we have to figure out how to use them up over the next few days.

I’ve always been a big fan of deviled, stuffed and dressed eggs.

The difference between deviled, dressed, and stuffed eggs is negligible. (A rose by any other name…)  The ingredients for all are pretty simple: take a whole, peeled hard-boiled egg cut lengthwise. Scoop out the yolk. Mash it. , enhance it, and plop it back into the empty depression on the white half.  Who hasn’t had those?

They are so popular that special plates are sold to cradle the egg halves.

Cookbooks have referenced them since the Romans (although they stuffed their hard-boiled-egg yolks with raisins and honey). In the 1500s in England, instructions appear in cookbooks to “farce” the yolks (meaning mush them up, usually with other ingredients) and re-place them in the egg. The concept is widespread, and popular worldwide.

The term deviled is a description in old cookbooks — that usually meant something  especially hot and spicy.

(Wait, no hard and fast rules here…Devil’s food chocolate cake is not hot and spicy; it was named to contrast with angel food, the exceptionally white, light, and airy sponge cake made with a great many egg whites.)

The first known reference to deviled was in an English cookbook in 1786. In the 1800’s, it was very common to find described as deviled various recipes. This was quite risque, as the usually boring bland food lacked the devilish pinch of cayenne or tiny dollop of minced horseradish.

Oh so tame by today’s chili-pepper-obsessed standards.

At the Oxford Symposium on Food & Cookery in 2006, Nancy R. McArthur related the following item reported in The New York Times (June 13, 1904) entitled “Angel Cake and Deviled Eggs Barred” (page 6):

“The popularity of deviled eggs was not without controversy as erupted in 1904 in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. The all-male officers of the Reformed Church voted against permitting deviled eggs and angel cake at the June fete. In their view, having deviled eggs would bring profane objects within the sacred edifice while angel cake would be sacrilegious. Women planning the fete cancelled the event in a fit of pique, refusing to bow to the will of the sanctimonious menfolk. Similar issues arose in the southern states, sometimes requiring a change in the dish’s name.”

Because of this controversy, parts of the U.S. still refer to deviled eggs as dressed or stuffed.

For years I thought that deviled eggs were ONLY egg yolk mixed with store-made jar mayonnaise. How wrong I was.

In Northern Europe, it is not uncommon to mix the yolks with stale white bread that has been soaked in milk, along with mustard and parsley. Germany is fond of stuffed eggs with anchovy and capers.  Old recipes use softened butter instead of mayonnaise. Other recipes use substitutes such as dry, Greek-style yogurt; heavy whipping cream; sour cream; cream cheese; hummus; or in the case of a mid-twentieth-century American recipe using a very American cheese-product invention, the neon-orange Cheez Whiz, for a cheesy egg concoction (No comment. I haven’t tried it.)

More-exotic binder ingredients (instead of mayonnaise) are mashed avocado, olive or other oil, and coconut milk. Additions to the egg yolk include pureed artichoke hearts; minced olives; diced sun-dried tomatoes; bits of chicken, fish, or bacon; mashed potato; bread crumbs; and ground nutmeats. In one popular variation, Russian eggs, the eggs are filled with caviar and served with a rémoulade sauce.

A couple of recipes from my collection

Deviled egg recipes all have the same instructions (unless noted): cut peeled hard-boiled eggs lengthwise; remove yolks; mash them; and add enough of a binder such as mayonnaise, butter, or yogurt to make the yolks creamy and hold them together. Mix in with other ingredients and spices. Return the yolk mixture to the center depression in the egg white (with a spoon or a pastry bag). Garnish with a spice (typically paprika) and/or other ingredients such as parsley, cilantro, or caviar

My Mother’s Deviled Eggs

• 12 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut lengthwise
• ¼ cup mayonnaise (more or less as needed to make yolks creamy)
• salt and pepper, to taste
• ½ teaspoon curry powder
• paprika for garnish

Yogurt Deviled Eggs

• 12 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut lengthwise
• 1/3 cup plain Greek-style yogurt
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• Dash Tabasco sauce
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
• salt, to taste
• Paprika, for garnish

Old-Fashioned Butter Deviled Eggs

• 12 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut lengthwise
• 3 tablespoons softened sweet cream butter
• ½ teaspoon dry mustard
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1-2 teaspoons heavy cream (more or less as needed to make yolks creamy)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Paprika, for garnish

Bean Deviled Eggs

• 12 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut lengthwise
• 2 tablespoons cream cheese
• 2 tablespoons sour cream
• 2 tablespoons refried beans
• Tabasco sauce, to taste
• 1 teaspoon finely minced red onion
• 1 teaspoon finely minced parsley
• 1 teaspoon finely minced cilantro
• ½ teaspoon finely minced fresh oregano (or ¼ teaspoon dried)