Dyeing your Easter Eggs with Spices

Add a natural touch to your Easter eggs by dyeing them with spices! It’s a fun, easy way to get creative with your Silk Road collection. Spices give a huge range of vibrant, natural colours that will give you a great earth-toned centrepiece for your table.

It goes without saying that this is a great craft to do with kids, but please beware: spices can dye your clothes or even countertops. Take great care that you don't splash the dyeing water around the kitchen.

Some spice suggestions for dyeing your eggs:

• Annatto Seeds
• Chicory Root
• Elderberries
• Hibiscus Flowers
• Lavender Flowers
• Paprika
• Rose Petals
• Sumac
• Turmeric

Beyond those, you might have success with other spices or ingredients, but the only way to know for sure is to play around and see what you come up with. 

For each colour, you’ll need:

• A couple hardboiled eggs
• A small pot
• A good-sized jar
• 2 cups water
• 2 Tbsp of your spice choice
• 1 Tbsp white vinegar

Bring 2 cups of water and 2 Tbsp of the spice to a boil in a small saucepan. Reduce the heat to medium-low and let it simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat. Pour the liquid through a fine-mesh strainer into the jar and let it cool.

Add 1 Tbsp of vinegar to the liquid. Gently lower your eggs into the jar using a spoon. Put the lid on the jar and refrigerate for several hours (preferably overnight). Once you’re happy with the colour, carefully remove the eggs from the jar and place them on a wire rack over a baking sheet lined with paper towel dry. Careful with the liquid!

TIP: to achieve different effects, experiment by leaving the spices in the liquid and
letting them settle on the eggs. You can also try rubbing the eggs to remove some of the colour and then re-submerging them in the dye.