Dyeing eggs around Easter time is a tradition that is cherished by many families, but especially by the Gemperle family.
The local egg farmers use nature as the inspiration for their decorations.
“The Gemperle family relies on the Swiss tradition for dyeing our eggs. With this method, children use roots, leaves and blossoms to decorate their Easter eggs,” explained Gemperle Farms President Steve Gemperle.
Everything from grass to crocuses and daffodils can be used to create interesting and unique patterns on the eggs. This natural method also utilizes onion peels to color the eggs. The outcome is always a mystery and two eggs never look the same.
“We have keen memories of our dad bringing home fresh eggs from the ranch and our mother boiling the onion skins, plopping the egg in the solution and eagerly waiting for the color to emerge,” Gemperle remembers. “I could not wait to remove the cheese cloth and see the secret image inside.”
Historically, eggs represent rebirth, new life, and spring, so often their decorations are symbolic. In Greece and the Middle East, eggs are dyed a bright red to reflect Christ’s blood. In some countries, the egg represents the rock laid in front of Jesus’ tomb. In Austria and Germany, only hollow green eggs are allowed leading up to Easter Sunday, at which point people display elaborately decorated eggs. In Eastern Europe, people use wax to decorate Easter eggs with intricate designs.
No matter their design or color, dyeing eggs remains a fun and memorable family tradition.
Gemperle Family All-Natural
Easter Eggs Swiss-Style
All Natural Dye Ingredients
Hard-boiled eggs
5 cups of water
8 cups loosely packed onion skins (yellow onion skins give an orange hue while red onion skins lend a reddish-brown hue)
4 Tablespoons vinegar
Directions
Fill a medium-sized saucepan with 5 cups of water and put over medium-high heat.
Add the onion skins and simmer covered for 15 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes.
Strain the liquid into a medium-sized bowl.
Add the vinegar to the onion skin water.
Let cool to room temperature.
Add hard-boiled eggs to the onion skin water. Remember that the longer you leave the egg in the solution, the darker it becomes.
At Gemperle Farms, we found 30 minutes works best for most colors. The colors will deepen the longer the eggs soak in the natural dye solution. If you plan to leave your eggs in the solution longer, place them in the refrigerator.
Variations
Don’t stop with onion skins. Following the directions above, replace onion skins with some of the following all-natural ingredients to create different dyes.
Yellow: 6 Tablespoons of fresh grated root turmeric
Blue: 6 cups of chopped purple cabbage
Pink and red: 4 cups of chopped beets
Golden brown: 6 Tablespoons of loose black tea or Earl Grey tea
Designing the Eggs
To create a special design on our eggs, we use a simple technique with cheesecloth, leaves, blossoms and grasses collected from our gardens and flat leaf Italian parsley. We use onion skins, both white and red, to give the eggs a rich orange color or a reddish brown color.
Items Needed
Cheesecloth or pantyhose
Twist ties or rubber bands
Variety of natural materials, including plants, leaves, and flowers
Hard-boiled eggs
Natural dye (directions above)
Directions
Cut a piece of pantyhose or cheesecloth and put a twisty tie on one end.
Put a hard-boiled egg in the tied section of cloth and place a mixture of leaves and flowers flat on the egg.
Close the other end of the cloth or pantyhose with a twist tie.
Place your egg in the prepared dye for about 30 minutes or longer depending on desired color.
