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Green Eggs Make Mom Blue
An Earth-Friendly (and Unsuccessful) Easter Egg Experience
By Anna Seip
Dyeing Easter eggs is one of my favorite things to do this time of year. Long after my kids get bored and retreat to the living room, I’m still standing in the kitchen with stained fingertips, dipping eggs and rolling them in glitter. This year, though, I decided to go “green’ and try out some natural dyes. The other moms on the block would envy my subtle hues, my resourcefulness, my commitment to Mother Earth.
Easter was one week away, so there was plenty of time to make test batches on a slow Sunday evening. After consulting many Earth-friendly Web sites, I was excited to know that most of the ingredients were already in my kitchen. A quick trip to the produce aisle rounded out the rest of my list. My kids dragged the dining room chairs into the kitchen, ready to witness this amazing, all-natural, environmentally friendly process. Just think, no more stained fingertips from those commercial dye kits! Let other moms give their kids garish colors. My children would have subtle hues.
Red cabbage is supposed to turn eggs blue – who knew? – so, I was anxious to try that one first. This would be a scientific experiment, something my kids would talk about for years to come. Remember that time Mom made blue eggs with red cabbage? I started small with two eggs, three cups of water, two tablespoons of vinegar and a cup of cabbage. I followed the instructions and brought the whole thing to a boil. This was exciting! Soon, I would have two pale blue eggs, like something from a Martha Stewart Living magazine cover. After simmering for 30 minutes, the water was purple. That was a good sign. I dipped a spoon into the inky water, lifted out the egg and…it was white. Hmm, maybe another two cups of cabbage and another 30 minutes of boiling would help.
Once the stench of cabbage filled every room of my house sufficiently, I dipped the spoon in again and lifted the egg out. Still white. I consulted the instructions again. To make even darker colors, allow eggs to sit in the dye overnight in the fridge. I put the pot in the fridge and got to work on the next color. My kids shook their heads and went to bed.
This would work. I just had to keep trying. Celery seeds brought out a pale yellow-brown shade. That was not the subtle hue I was going for. Boiled cranberry juice morphed into a brown scum that stuck to the eggs. Three cups of shredded carrots yielded another white egg. Two family-sized tea bags created a pale brown shade. If I’d wanted brown eggs, I would’ve just bought them at the grocery store! In desperation, I grabbed two roses from the vase in the dining room and boiled the petals. The water turned pink. The eggs? Still white.
Did I give up? Nope. I poured all those bubbling mixtures into individual coffee cups. Off they went into the fridge where they would magically turn into beautiful colors overnight. Right? After each boiling, I poured the leftover batches into a colander in the sink. By 11 p.m., blueberries and spinach – both miserable failures – topped the steaming heap of produce. The windows were fogged up. I was sweaty and near tears.
I considered calling in sick to work the next day – a) so I could monitor the progress of the eggs like a mother hen and b) so I could throw away every “frugal living” magazine I owned. How much money had I wasted with this “green” idea, anyway? Sleep was fitful that night. In the morning, I resisted the urge to peek in the fridge. When I got home, the kids and I lined the cups along the countertop. We drained the dyes and inspected each egg. The result? Subtle hues that ranged from white to tan.
I loaded the kids in the car and drove to the grocery store. We bought a good old-fashioned egg dyeing kit, the kind with colored tablets that fizz. Give me garish colors! Give me color, period. The only thing that would be green about our Easter would be our stained fingertips. And that’s OK.
Anna Seip is a mother of two, an editor and an expert of many failed kitchen experiments.
