In many parts of the world people celebrate Easter. One of the must-haves at this time of year is colored hard-boiled eggs. You can buy them or boil and dye them yourself. But did you know that many do-it-yourself colors are toxic and most of the colored eggs you can buy in the supermarkets are from chickens in battery cages?

Eggs from the Supermarket

It is bad enough that hens are locked up in tiny cages, but you may not have noticed that the cage system of housing does not provide any space for roosters. What many people don’t know is that many of the male fledglings are killed because they can’t lay eggs and are therefore uneconomic – even organic farmers do this! The best thing you can do is to buy your eggs directly from your local farmer or sometimes supermarkets offer eggs from special farmers that don’t kill the baby roosters. If you don’t have these choices it is still better to buy free-range eggs than barn eggs!

Harmful Pigments

Now that we have answered the question of which eggs to buy, we have to think about the egg-colors. Many people think that dying the eggs yourself is healthier and involves less chemical products than the factory colored eggs do. Most of the time that’s not true!
In 2015, Greenpeace carried out a study where they tested 60 different products for dying eggs yourself. Only 10 brands did not include any harmful substances. The toxic additive azodytes can cause ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) in children, allergies and even cancer!

Azodytes are not only used for coloring eggs but they are also found in sweets, chips, etc…

If you want to avoid these artificial dyes watch out for the numbers: E 102, E 110, E 122,
E 123, E 124, E 129, E 151, E 154, E 155, E 180

DIY Eggcolor

Luckily there are many other cool, natural ways to dye your eggs! You can either buy organic colors or make them yourself! Usually, you boil the natural ingredients until you have a colored brew. Next, you boil your eggs separately and right afterwards you let them cool down in the brew until they become the perfect color. For example, you can use red beets for red eggs, curcuma for yellow ones, spinach and stinging nettle for green ones, onion skin for brown ones…
If you want to be very creative you can create patterns on your eggs. For this option you need to cover some parts with lemon juice before you put the egg into the brew and it will stay white/brown!

With these tips you can finally relax and enjoy your colored eggs.
Bon Appetit!