April 3, 2010
Coloring Easter Eggs in Onion Peels
Serbian Easter Eggs
This is how my family colored Easter eggs when I was a little girl in Serbia. I still enjoy this activity with my own children.
For a few weeks before Orthodox Easter, we saved the extra loose scraps of onion peels (the brittle, colorful ones) from the onion bin. On Good Friday, we children, would pick the weeds, grasses and leaves whose patterns we liked and bring them to the table. Then, we would place the leaves on the eggs and cover them with a piece of cheese cloth or an old nylon stocking. We would stretch the covers and tie tightly on both ends with a bit of thread. After the eggs were ready, we would prepare the coloring brew.
- Peels of 5 – 10 Onions
- 6 Cups of Water
- 1 Tablespoon Vinegar
- 2 dozen eggs
Boil 30 Minutes
Boiling the eggs together with the onion skins gives them a mottled look. To make them look more uniform, cook the eggs first, separately, and then soak them in the onion skin dye for a few hours. Both ways work beautifully but give a different effect and many shades of deep red, yellow and orange. Your eggs will not only look lovely, but taste delicious, too.
Happy Easter!
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