This year I got it in my head that I should use natural food coloring for my Easter eggs.  After all, if anyone should do it, I should.  I teach kids to cook and eat healthy and organically and in general, shun junk.  What an example I would be setting for the kids - especially my own.  After reading about how to go about coloring eggs using food, spices and juices, I figured it could be easy and rewarding.  Wrong!!

Ok.  I researched on the Internet and oh; there was plenty to read.  But, you can’t believe everything you read.  For example, I have come to doubt all of those articles telling you how much fun it is to color your eggs au naturelle.  They do admit that the coloring isn’t as vivid and that it takes a bit longer, but I sincerely have a hard time believing any of these people actually tried this experiment themselves.

Regardless, before I knew any better, I went out and bought organic eggs ($5), organic spinach ($4), organic carrots ($2), organic beets ($3), and organic red cabbage ($2).  I had vinegar and strong colored spices on hand. 

In order to save myself some time, I decided to boil the eggs in the “dye”.  I read somewhere that this would produce a more vivid color.  So in went cut and smashed spinach with water and vinegar in one pot, shredded cabbage in another and grated carrots in yet another.  I hard-boiled one test egg in each pot by bringing the mixture to a boil and then covering the pot which rested for 15 minutes with the lid in place.  When the timer went off, I removed the lid and removed the completely white egg.  What?!  Not a bit of color attached to the shells. 

I strained that “dye”, let it and the eggs cool separately, and put the eggs back into their colored bath.  I checked the progress of my experiment after about an hour – nothing.  By this point, I was annoyed, tired and done.  It all went into the trash and I decided au naturelle was not for me.

Of course, failing was not an option for me and I was researching on the wonderful Web within a half hour (despite the fact that it was 11:30 PM) to figure out what went wrong.  This time I found a couple of honest writers with articles describing their “dingy” eggs and failed attempts at protecting the kiddies from the dangerous artificial dyes.  But then, there were the other writers that made it work and I just had to be one of them.    

I got up and tried again.  This time I didn’t cook the eggs first.  Instead, I put the raw eggs into the grated vegetable mixtures with vinegar and pour boiling water over them.  I let them sit for five minutes then packed them into baggies to rest in dye overnight in the fridge.  In the morning I pulled them out and the only one that absorbed any color was the beet mixture egg.  Good, I thought.  Not red, not pink, but finally, something.  Then I hard-boiled the eggs and – I should have seen this coming - all of the color was gone.  This was just as well, because these eggs were completely dangerous to eat due to the fluctuating temperatures.  Into the trash they went.  My daughter’s comment:  “Mom, you are just wasting all of this food” was heard, but only as background noise.

The final attempt for these natural eggs actually produced pinkish eggs that are probably safe to eat, but I don’t think I’ll take a chance and let anyone try them.  I hard-boiled and cooled the eggs first.  Put the cooled eggs into a bowl of grated beets and red wine vinegar, poured boiling water over them and put them into the fridge to color.  A couple of hours later, these eggs had some color and looked pretty adorable.  So it worked!!!  Hooray!!  Yipee!!

But really, I just don’t think it’s worth the trouble on many levels.  First of all, the fun of coloring eggs is getting to do the project with your kids.  This project takes so long that I can’t imagine any kid being interested long enough to see the final results.  Second, all of the manipulation of the temperatures of the eggs is scary.  Trying to make them “natural” takes a lot of in and out of the fridge.  Personally, I wouldn’t feel comfortable letting anyone eat them.  For information about egg safety, visit Egg Safety Org.

And finally, the cost of producing naturally dyed eggs just doesn’t make them worth it – at all.  I say, take your fresh beets, spinach, carrots, etc. and make dinner for your family. 

For the minute or two it takes for the eggs to color in my gel food coloring, as long as the kids don’t lick the shells, how bad can they be?  I’ll be taking my chances – just like we have done every other year.  Disappointing, yes – but completely stress-free.

Didn't work for me, but maybe you'll have better luck.

Happy Easter!!!