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Use food to dye Easter eggs this year

Here's how to make 8 colors with ingredients from the grocery store

But even though we followed all the directions in the book...

By DENISE M

But even though we followed all the directions in the book...

...we couldn't seem to make the desired colors.

We gave up and went back to food coloring.

This year, I asked my son Timothy Baran, an innovation, corporate and executive chef, at Land O' Frost in Indiana, if he could create a user-friendly set of dyes people could use at home.

The only color that eluded him was green.

The choices on my list were kale or spinach.

Timothy chose spinach – because of its higher chlorophyll count, he said.

Multiple attempts later, he couldn't produce anything except a pale color.

The internet was little help.

Apparently green dye is not easily made with food.

But then he recalled a song from preschool – and created a beautiful green egg. And yes, one of the ingredients was beets.

Store each dye in a covered container for 24 hours before dipping eggs.

Orange: 2 tablespoons white distilled vinegar 2 cups boiling water 1 tablespoon paprika 1 tablespoon turmeric 1 cup red beets, raw, peeled and diced Blend.

Blue: 8 tablespoons concentrated grape juice 2 tablespoons white distilled vinegar 2 cups boiling water Mix.

Yellow: 2 tablespoons white vinegar 3 tablespoons ground turmeric 2 cups boiling water Mix.

Purple: 2 tablespoons white distilled vinegar 2 cups fresh ripe blackberries 2 cups boiling water Blend.

Red: 2 tablespoons white vinegar 3 tablespoons paprika 2 cups red beets, raw, peeled, diced 2 cups boiling water Blend.

Brown: 2 tablespoons white vinegar 1 K-cup or 2 tablespoons ground dark roast coffee 2 cups boiling water Mix.

Off-green: 2 to-3 tablespoons white vinegar 2 packed cups raw spinach 2 cups boiling water Blend.

Green: Take hard-boiled egg and dip into the yellow dye for a couple seconds and then dip into the blue dye for a couple seconds, then back into the yellow for about five minutes, and then into the blue for a minute or two, and then go back to the yellow for a couple minutes and back to the blue for a minute. Panic because it's not turning green. Pray and dip it into orange. Watch in terror as it turns into a dark, sad color. And dip into yellow to try to lighten it up. At this point, it's the color of smog. Go back to blue for a minute. Dip it into the orange, then the blue, and finish with yellow. Congratulations! You've beaten the internet.

#Foodnatural dyesdyeing Easter eggsEaster egg dyes from foodmaking dye from foodfood dyesDenise M. Baran-UnlandLand O' FrostTimothy Baran