Egg dying is a fun and creative way to celebrate the Easter holiday with your kids. But most store-bought egg-dying kits are filled with unnecessary dyes and chemicals. This year, skip all the unnatural dyes and have fun with fruit instead. With this all-natural blackberry egg dye, you and your kids can create some beautifully colored eggs without needing food coloring or chemical-filled tablets.
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What Do I Need for Blackberry Egg Dye?
Using natural ingredients to dye your Easter eggs might sound complicated, but it’s just as simple as coloring them the traditional way! And when you use blackberries, you can give your eggs a pretty blue tint with no need for messy food coloring! To use this natural Easter egg dying method, you’ll need just a few simple ingredients, including:
- Water
- Blackberries
- White Vinegar
- Boiled eggs
Looking for more fun Easter egg ideas? Give these reader favorites a try!
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How Do I Make Blackberry Egg Dye?
This chemical-free egg-dying method is a great way to add a beautiful blue color to your kid’s Easter egg. And the best part is that you can color your Easter eggs without all those messy food coloring bottles! Follow these quick and easy instructions for using blackberries to dye your eggs.
Step One: Boil the Blackberries
Combine the water and blackberries in a large pot and cook over medium-high
heat. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat and allow the blackberries to simmer for around five minutes.
Step Two: Smash the Blackberries
After the berries have cooked for a few minutes and have begun to soften, use a spoon to mash the blackberries in the water. When all the berries are smashed, stir the pot and allow the mixture to simmer for another five minutes.
Step Three: Strain the Seeds
Remove the pot from the heat and place a large bowl under a fine mesh strainer. Pour the water through the strainer to catch the seeds and pulp. Stir the vinegar into the tinted water and discard the ingredients in the strainer.
Step Four: Soak the Eggs
Place the eggs in the liquid, making sure the eggs are completely submerged in the tinted water. Allow the eggs to soak until the shell reaches your desired shade, which could take up to eight hours.
Step Five: Allow the Eggs to Dry
When you’re satisfied with the color of your blackberry Easter eggs, carefully remove the foam from the top of the bowl and discard it. After that, you can gently remove the eggs from the blackberry water and transfer them to a paper towel to air dry.
Do Blackberries Affect the Flavor of the Hard Boiled Eggs?
When you use natural dyes like blackberries to color your Easter eggs, the hard-boiled eggs inside the shell are perfectly safe to eat. But you might be worried that the flavor of the blackberries will seep into your eggs while they soak. I have some good news for you! As long as the shells are intact, there’s no reason that the flavor of the blackberries will affect the flavor of your eggs.
Blackberry Easter Egg Dying Tips
When you use this easy natural egg-dying method, you don’t have to worry about unwanted chemicals harming your hard-boiled eggs as you’re decorating. And when you use these helpful tips and tricks, dying your eggs with natural ingredients can be so simple.
- Let the eggs soak in the fridge. Most natural egg dyes require you to soak the eggs in the tinted liquid for a long time to tint the shells of your eggs. That means you may be worried that your cooked eggs will go bad if they sit at room temperature while they’re soaking. When dying the eggs to soak for the entire 8 hours or more, it’s a good idea to place the bowl with the blackberry-tinted water and eggs in the refrigerator. Chilling the eggs in the fridge won’t affect the dying process.
- Don’t touch the eggs as they dry. The best way to keep your eggs evenly colored is to keep your hands off the shells until they’re dry. When you remove the eggs from the blackberry dye, make sure to let them air dry. Attempting to wipe the excess liquid off the eggs or touching the eggs excessively with your fingers may cause the dye to rub off the shell.
- Carefully turn the eggs as they dry. Rotating the eggs every few hours, so the air hits all sides of the shell will help them dry more evenly. As you turn the eggs, you might need to replace the paper towels with clean ones so the eggs dry completely.
- Dye in batches, if needed. When you use a large bowl, you can dye up to 12 eggs at once with this recipe. But if you want to dye more than 12 eggs, you can work in batches until all your eggs are dyed. The dye can be reused, as needed, for up to 48 hours.
