Easter Eggs
A centuries' old tradition, fun for the whole family
| So easy, and so very beautiful. |
- Remove however many eggs you are going to color from the refrigerator 1 hour before boiling to allow the eggs to reach room temperature to help prevent cracking the eggs during boiling.
- Place White Eggs in enough cold water to cover eggs completely, bring to rolling
boil and cook (lower medium boil) an additional 10-12 minutes.
- Remove from heat and IMMEDIATLEY place eggs in a large bowl of ICED cold water
(or run eggs under very cold running water) to chill promptly to help the yolks stay bright
yellow. Leave in ice water until eggs are completely chilled.
- Place Eggs (with spoon) in a small deep bowl or large sturdy glass (one for each
color) with 3/4 cup warm water, 5 drops food coloring, and 2 tablespoons of white vinegar. The vinegar is optional but VERY HIGHLY recommended as it helps the color adhere to the shell evenly and will help the eggs color more beautifully.
Remove after 2 to 4 minutes (until desired color is reached) and dry with a paper towel.
- Refrigerate Promptly and always keep at or below 45 F until ready to use.
- Eggs kept in the shell, and refrigerated can be kept for up to 1 week before being used for egg hunts, or converted into deviled eggs or egg salad.
- Use older eggs if possible for hard boiling. Extremely fresh eggs can be very difficult to peel. For easiest peeling, use eggs near the USE BY date on the carton or egg or up to 2 weeks after the SELL BY date stamped on the carton.
Want to color eggs the natural way?
Take your boiled eggs and color them using these traditional natural coloring methods:
Simmer the brown outer skins or red skins of onions for 5-10 minutes. The more skins you use, the darker the color.
Mash blueberries - fresh, frozen or canned - in a pan with a little water. Simmer 5-10 minutes. For red use raspberries!
Dip eggs in cold grape juice. For a darker shade, simmer the juice for 5-10 minutes.
Chop and simmer the green tops of carrots. For orange , grate the carrots, and simmer for 5-10 minutes.
Dip eggs in hot coffee straight from the coffeepot.
Delicious recipes using "boiled" hard cooked eggs, such as Aunt Thelma's Egg Salad and Classic Deviled Eggs can be found at the recipe page.
Candy, Chocolate & Marshmallow Easter Favorites:
Please check out these links for more information on coloring eggs and the history of Easter:
Coloring Eggs:
Ekrainian Easter Eggs (Pysanky)
History of the White House Egg Roll
A commercial site:
www.Holidays.net/Easter