the adventures of clay ball

 

 

 

 

Onion peels make a beautiful & natural, warm, reddish orange dye for eggs!  In this traditional Swiss recipe, leaves are used to create beautiful patterns & images on the eggs, but onion peel dyes are used in many other different ways in countries around the globe.   These lovely hard-boiled eggs are also delicious served with homemade mayonnaise!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some people save up onion peels several months in advance, but otherwise you can buy a bag or 2 of onions & remove the loose outer peels from those…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Set aside the largest onion peels–these will be used to wrap up the eggs.  You may soak them a bit in warm water if you’d like, so they are easier to wrap around the eggs & don’t crack!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Take all the other smaller bits of onion skin & add them to a pot of water (add enough water to cover all the eggs later on), & add 2 tablespoons of vinegar.  Bring the water to a rolling boil, then remove from heat & allow to cool down as you prepare the raw eggs as follows:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First go outside & collect anything green you may find this time of year–dandelion leaves, clover, tiny flowers, maybe some early chives or herbs from the garden…Place the leaves onto the raw eggs, with the flattest side facing the egg…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then wrap the onion peel carefully around the leaves, pressing the leaves flat against the eggs, & trying to completely cover the surface of the egg with the peel–you may need several pieces of peel…

 

 

You can then just secure the onion peel in place using thread, or, better yet, if you have cheese cloth or gauze on hand, instead of tying with thread, just wrap the egg bundle in the gauze, gather together the ends of gauze, & secure with a thread or  rubber band…(I have also read that some people use foil, but I have never tried it!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Place all of the eggs gently in the pot of cooled down onion water dye.  (The water should no longer be hot, so that the eggs do not crack when placing them in the pot.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Again bring the water to a rolling boil, then cover the pot tightly & remove from heat.  Let stand for 20 minutes.

 

 

Then replace the hot water with cold water & let sit for another 10 minutes (so the eggs will peel easily). Finally, gently unwrap the eggs & see what surprise waits inside!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The egg on the left shows a dandelion leaf pattern–you can see a little green color from the leaf transferred to the egg!  The middle just shows a  lovely leaf pattern, & on the right are some stripes made with chives!  Sometimes the leaf patterns don’t show up distinctly, but instead some of  the eggs may show a beautiful sun-dappled appearance or an onion-skin imprint, and some may be a warm, even color. After admiring & drying the eggs, you can rub them with a tiny bit of cooking oil to let them shine!

 

 

I hope you will try these beautiful naturally dyed eggs!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

love,

 

 

Clay Ball

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Copy-and-print recipe below!

 

 

 

 Beautiful Onion Peel & Leaf Eggs…

 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

 

white eggs

 

plenty of onion peels, about the amount from 2 bags of onions

 

a handful of small leaves, flowers, herbs

 

thread to secure the onion peels onto the eggs;  or gauze/cheesecloth with rubber bands; or foil may be helpful as well

 

a pot of water (enough to cover the eggs well) & 2 tablespoons vinegar

 

 

It is handy to save up onion peels several months in advance, but otherwise you can buy maybe 2 bags of onions, or just buy a few loose onions & fill the rest of your bag with loose onion peels found in the onion bin at the store–nobody should mind if you purchase lots of onion peels along with your onions! 

 

 

1.     First carefully remove the loose peels from the onions & set aside the largest onion peels–these will be used to wrap up the eggs.  You may soak them a bit in warm water if you would like, so they are easier to wrap around the eggs & don’t crack.

 

 

2.     Take all the other smaller bits of onion skin & add them to a pot of water, & then add 2 tablespoons of vinegar.  Bring water to a rolling boil, then remove from heat & allow to cool down as you prepare the eggs as follows.

 

3.     First go outside & collect anything green you may find this time of year–dandelion leaves, clover, tiny flowers, maybe some early chives or herbs from the garden…Place the leaves onto the raw eggs, with the flattest side facing the egg…

 

4.     Then wrap the onion peel carefully around the leaves, pressing the leaves flat against the eggs, & trying to ( more or less) completely cover the surface of the egg with the peel–you may need several pieces of peel…

 

 

 You can then just secure the onion peel in place using thread, or, even handier, if you have cheese cloth or gauze on hand, instead of tying with thread first,  just wrap the egg-and-onion peel bundle in gauze, gather together the ends of the gauze, & secure with a rubber band (do not place the rubber band around the egg itself, just around the gauze, as pictured in the photos above)…(I have also heard that some people use foil to wrap the egg-and-onion peel, but I have never tried it!)

 

 

5.     Place all of the eggs gently in the pot of cooled-down onion peel water.  (The water should no longer be hot, so that the eggs do not crack.  The eggs should be completely covered with water–you can just add more tap water if necessary.)

 

6.     Bring the water to a rolling boil, then cover the pot tightly & remove from heat.  Let sit for 20 minutes.

 

 7.     After the 20 minutes, replace the hot water with cold water & let sit for 10 minutes so the eggs will peel easily.

 

 

Sometimes the leaf patterns don’t show up distinctly, but instead some of the eggs may show a beautiful sun-dappled appearance or an onion-skin imprint, and some may just be a warm, even color.  For a richer & darker color, you may leave the onion in the hot water for longer than 20 minutes, but then the eggs may be overcooked.  If the eggs show some onion staining inside when peeled, that is okay!  They are still fine to eat! The eggs may be rubbed with a tiny bit of cooking oil to let them shine!

 

 

 I hope you enjoy these beautiful, naturally dyed eggs!

 

 

 love,

 

 

 Clay Ball

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…and you can click here to see the beautiful ones my mom made!