Onion Skin Dyed Pascha Eggs

Include an egg for each person of your family! Often the women of our parish make many onion skin dyed pascha eggs.  Our priest hands them out to those attending the Paschal services after the service is completed.

Some notes about the dye process:

The choices of onion color and egg color make a difference in the end color, ranging from a gold tan to deep red.  If the color is too light, you can try dying it longer with cooled strained onion dye.  

See the photos below for the difference between brown and white eggs.  I used the first recipe for these eggs.

 

Brown eggs with first recipe
White egg with first recipe

Check out two methods below for using onion skins to dye eggs!

Natural Onion Skin Dyed Eggs

Ingredients

  • 10 cups water
  • 4 Tbsp white vinegar
  • 20 Skins of onions
  • 12 eggs

Instructions

  • Wash eggs
  • Bring water, vinegar and onion shells to a boil in a stainless steel sauce pan.
  • Lower heat and simmer 45 minutes.
  • Strain into glass bowl and let cool
  • Once it is cool, place eggs in single layer in sauce pan and pour the onion dye water over the eggs
  • Cover and bring to boil over medium heat.  Lower to simmer for about 15 minutes.  
  • Check color for desired shade.  If after 20 minutes it still isn’t dark enough, take the eggs off the heat, cool and place in the fridge for longer dying.
  • Strain eggs into rack and let cool.  Shine eggs using a little oil on a paper towel.

Onion Skin Dyed Pascha Eggs

Course: Pascha Recipes

Ingredients

  • onion skins (both red and yellow skin work, but red gives a deeper hue)
  • eggs (brown gives a deeper hue)
  • 1 tbsp vinegar optional

Instructions

  • Place a thick layer of onion skins in a heavy pot.
  • Place a layer of eggs on top.
  • Add another layer of onion skins.
  • Alternate layers of onion skins and eggs until you have the amount of eggs you desire.
  • Fill the pot with water to cover eggs.
  • Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer, about 15-20 minutes.  Check eggs for desired color.
  • Using a few drops of oil on a paper towel, shine the eggs.

Notes

To get a deeper color, try pre-boiling the onion water mixture for twenty minutes and letting it cool; then add the eggs and follow the recipe as directed.

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