Red Easter Eggs and the Magic of Onion Skins

As we get ready for our Greek Orthodox Easter, a week after everyone else’s Easter, I was preparing to dye our eggs the traditional red/scarlet. Typically I have used Rit dye which is for fabrics, not food, because I never could find natural or food grade dye in our local markets. However, as I read one of my favorite food blogs, Kalofagas-Greek Food and Beyond by Chef Peter Minakis, I noticed he had written an article in one of his local newspapers in Toronto, CA, on the traditional foods of Orthodox Easter. Included in that article was a recipe for dying eggs red by using yellow onion skins. WHAT? How is that possible?? I decided to give it a try since I would always prefer to use a natural dye that would be safe and have no warnings connected to it. So here is the recipe:

 all the dry, flaky onion skins from 10 yellow onions
5 cups of water
2 T white vinegar
12 eggs at room temperature

Mix the water and vinegar and pour over the onion skins in a pot large enough for the onion skins. I used a small plate on top of the skins to keep them immersed. Boil this for 30 minutes then remove from heat, pour through a colander into another pot large enough to accomodate a dozen eggs in a single layer and let the dye cool. Once it is cool, carefully place the eggs in the water. Bring this to a slow boil and let the eggs boil for 15 minutes. Leave them in the dye overnight in the fridge. In the morning rinse them off and dry. You can put a little oil on a cloth and rub all over each egg to make them shine.

I am thrilled with the outcome. They are the perfect color red. Don’t you agree?

See you next time!

Tagged as: Greek Easter Traditions, natural dye, onion skins, red eggs