Dye Easter Eggs With Blueberries
When I found out how to dye Easter eggs with blueberries and vinegar, I absolutely had to share the process. It is so easy!
This is a great project to do with kids because it uses all natural materials. Plus, these blueberry-dyed eggs have a shade of blue that can't be as easily made with chemical-based dyes.
For a free printable with recipes for other natural dyes made from fruits and vegetables, visit my original blog post.
Supplies
- Hard boiled eggs, cooled
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup vinegar in a bowl
- Spoon
- Paper towel lined tray
- Colander
- Pitcher
- Cup or containers for vinegar and blueberry juice
Pour the blueberries into a medium size saucepan. Add the water.
On the stove top, bring the blueberries to a boil. Stir (they might start to break apart and turn to mush, and that's okay).
Turn off the heat and remove the pot of blueberries to another spot on the stovetop or on a rack to cool. Allow the blueberries plenty of time to cool down.
Place a colander over a pitcher. When the blueberries have cooled, pour the mixture into the colander to separate the skins from the juice.
Pour the blueberry juice into a cup or bowl for dyeing. You will want it big enough to allow the whole egg to fit in the cup, along with displacing the liquid when you add the egg.
Dip an egg into the vinegar for a few seconds. This is very important so that the blueberry dye adheres to the egg!
Then place the egg into the blueberry juice, one at a time.
Allow to soak for at least 10 minutes. You can soak for an hour or two for very dark shades of blue.
Take the egg out of the juice using a spoon (or tongs) and place the egg on the paper towel lined tray.
As with any dyed egg using any sort of method, try not to leave the egg in one place on the paper towel or you may end up with a lighter color on one side. Or you might get the print from the paper towel in the dye on that side of the egg. I propped the eggs up against the tray once the excess juice was removed and the bottom of the egg was dried.
I think these robin's egg blue colors are beautiful!
You can use frozen or dehydrated blueberries to make this dye if you don't have fresh blueberries.
Resources for this project:
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Comments
Join the conversation
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Yes berries are expensive, but since you boil the berries and then strain the juice off why not thy your hand at making jam. You would of course, want to find something to give the juice back. It could be a frozen can of whatever you think you would like. There are even recipes for onion jam. It tasted wonderful!
If we are taking time to make Easter eggs with our kiddos it isn't much more effort to do The canning (some canning is done putting what you've made in the refrigerator.
Sorry this was so long
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Great idea, Kim! I had always intended that the blueberries be used someway, whether in salads, baking, etc. Making jam is a way to use them that is really smart.
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Awwww memories ! I’m glad people are looking at what our grandparents did for Easter coloring . Love this great job !! Also try onion skin
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My uncle used to dye eggs with onion skins! Thanks for the memory!
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Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
Why not add the eggs to the boiling blueberries to get a more intense color? Hey, it could work.
Why not add the vinegar to the juice?
Could you use frozen blueberries