Stay for Tea

My mom never took the old food coloring and googly eyes route when it came to Pascha egg dying. (I don’t know that many Russian moms did anyhow, at least when I was growing up.) Eggs would be stuffed into nylon hose, with a knot tied to separate each egg and keep it from cracking. With parsley or dill pressed against the egg, before wrapping, she’d boil them in a pot of onion skins, which would create lovely sepia pigmented eggs.

The last time I dyed eggs at home (a few years ago), I tried two different dying options. One was strong black tea and turmeric. The other was red cabbage (and a beet root). It’s the latter batch that turned out to be the most surprising and pretty. Red cabbage, because it contains anthocyanin, will normally turn blue during cooking. Adding acidic liquid like lemon juice or vinegar would help preserve the red pigment. I didn’t do that, instead ending up with a batch of lovely royal blue eggs. Because I also tied them quite loosely in the nylon, the little parsley leaves moved around and created this marbled effect. That part wasn’t exactly intentional but I kind of like it.

And here’s how the tea and turmeric eggs turned out:

Some eggies cooking in the tea & turmeric mixture

If any of you try this out, I’d love to see the photos of your results!