Vinegar Fridays

TGIVF!

With Easter being a little over a week away, I thought it would be a good idea to discuss vinegar and Easter eggs. So here goes...

Maybe some of you grew up dipping your eggs in store bought dyes or in homemade concoctions of vinegar and food coloring. Not me. And not my kids. For us, painting Easter eggs involved undiluted food coloring (we were hardcore!) and a pile of Q-tips®. With newspaper spread out to protect the table from the inevitable spill, we unleashed our creative sides and went to work on our egg-shaped masterpieces. I'd create my mini-Mary Engelbreit reproductions as the kids and my husband painted crosses, empty tombs, bunnies, etc. In the end we'd have a variety of styles and colors and tie-dyed fingers that took days to clean.

This year, we'll probably do more of the same. But I plan to try some of the ideas I'm presenting here as well.

The Dip

Set out some cups deep enough to immerse eggs in. Fill the cups halfway up with water. Add about a tablespoon of food coloring and 2 teaspoons of distilled white vinegar. Gently lower the egg into the cup and swirl it around a bit. For pastel eggs, remove quickly. For richer colors, allow the eggs to soak for awhile.

Simply Marble-ous

Prefer a marbled look? That's easy. Grab another cup and add a tablespoon each of food coloring, vinegar and oil (the real secret to the marbled egg). Fill the cup with enough water to cover the egg and stir. Immediately lower the egg into the solution and remove. Dry with a rag. Simply marble-ous dahling.

A Little Twisted

Using the same solution as The Dip, dye eggs wrapped in rubber bands for a twisty-striped look.

Color My World

Pull out the crayons and let your imagination go wild! Color pictures on the eggs and then dip them in the vinegar, food coloring and water solution. The waxy markings will repel the dye and give your eggs a totally different appearance. This is a nice way to get even the littlest members of the family involved.

Au Naturale

Dying eggs with nature's dyes is a fun project, especially for pre-schoolers and elementary school-aged kiddos.

You can make your own dyes using any of the following:

• Tea bags -- for a variety of colors, try red zinger, hibiscus, chamomile, green or black pekoe teas
• Onion skins -- yellow or red
• Spices -- turmeric, saffron (although a bit pricey), chili powder, paprika
• Vegetables -- cooked carrots, beets, spinach
• Fruits -- cranberries, grape juice, blueberries, raspberries
• Instant coffee

Prepare the dyes first by boiling any of the above in a small amount of water. Let stew until the desired depth of color is achieved. Add the dye to the pan/pans of water being used to cook the eggs, along with a tablespoon of vinegar, of course.

My preferred method of making hard boiled eggs is to place room-temperature eggs in cold tap water with at least an inch of water above them, cover the pot, wait until the water boils and then turn the heat off. Time for 10 minutes. Dump the hot water and fill the pot with cold. To ensure easier peeling, you might want to add a few ice cubes to the water to make sure the eggs cool completely. Once cooled, you can crack the top and bottom of the egg and peel the shell.

To be safe, keep the eggs in the refrigerator and consume within one week.

That's it for this week's vinegar tips. Enjoy your egg dying. While the real meaning of Easter has nothing to do with painted eggs, adding fun traditions to every holiday is good for family bonding. So, dye some eggs, laugh together, and tell your kids you love them...over and over and over again.

Hana