Easter Experiment

Before Easter gets too far behind us, I wanted to write about an Easter experiment that we conducted this year.

In keeping with our dietary habit of avoiding artificial colors because of their link to allergic reactions and ADHD, I decided it would be fun to try to dye our eggs naturally.  It's something that I've wanted to do for years.  In fact I posted about it way back in 2010, but never made it a reality.

Because we weren't going to have a table full of rainbow colored cups, I tried to still keep it fun for my 9 and 4 1/2 year old by turning it into a science experiment.  I had found an article in Natural Awakenings that recommended we add natural ingredients when boiling the eggs.  Using their suggested foods/ingredients, we pulled out every pot in the house, added water, the ingredients and vinegar and commenced boiling.  Know that saying that a watched pot never boils?  Well, it's true.

It's Easter Sunday afternoon, and instead of enjoying a relaxing activity with my family, I find myself slaving over a hot stove...all by myself.  Some would call that a failed experiment and stop there.  Still needing hard-boiled eggs for breakfast the next morning, and being somewhat curious, I (notice the singular tense) completed the experiment.  I could call it a success in that the eggs were cooked, some had color and we weren't promoting the use of artificial colors.  Just as easy, I could call it a failure, and for obvious reasons.

In order from left to right, we used frozen blueberries for blue/purple, frozen spinach for green, cherry juice for red, paprika for orange and turmeric for yellow.  I'm not giving up though.  The yellow eggs were gorgeous, and with the right ingredients and amount, this could be a viable option.  The eggs absorbed the nutrients from the spinach, blueberries and cherry juices making that a bonus, and all of the water and ingredients used to boil the eggs got used to water the outside plants.  So, maybe not a complete failed experiment.