Tips from an Easter egg expert: Why he advises against using supermarket food coloring

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Christine Mittermayr is a self-employed ceramicist. Her Easter eggs are as artistic as the food she cooks. The Upper Austrian still uses the painting technique he learned in his childhood today. “Little Book: Coloring Easter Eggs. The local farmer’s daughter shows off her artwork in numerous photos, gives instructions on how to do it yourself, and explains tips for dyeing Easter eggs with natural colors.

Before cooking, Mittermayr puts the eggs she buys from an organic farmer in a bowl with vinegar and removes any stains and other dirt with a tea towel (cotton or linen). Mittermayr says a vinegar bath for conventional eggs from the supermarket is also helpful. “It removes the egg’s natural ‘wax coat’ and slightly erodes the calcium in the shell. “This means the color can be absorbed better.” Can you really taste the color when you eat an egg? “No,” says Mittermayr. However, a small part of the paint’s components will penetrate through the porous shell. “Personally, I would never eat colored eggs containing food additives found in the supermarket range.”

Mittermayr cooks the eggs in a colander suspended over a pot of water. Eight minutes – then the yolk will harden enough to peck the egg (known to us as “egg wrap”) and divide the egg into quarters. Important: Remove eggs from the refrigerator at least thirty minutes before cooking. “If they’re at room temperature, the skins won’t crack as easily during cooking.”

For hot dyeing, Mittermayr boils a broth containing water and dyeing ingredients (e.g. light onion peels) on high for 20 to 30 minutes. Only after that does he hang the eggs in water to cook for 8 minutes. The colored eggs are then carefully cooled with cold water by holding them under the jet of cold water using a sieve. Then remove the eggs from the water with a spoon and place them on a cloth where they can drain. With dark ingredients like red onion peels, coffee, and turmeric, you can cook eggs in stock for 8 minutes from start.

During cold dyeing, eggs are cooked normally. Once cooled, you put it in or dip it in the coloring broth you need to prepare in advance (see instructions below). The longer the color of the eggs remains, the more intense it will be. Mittermayr: “You can even leave the eggs in the dye bath in the refrigerator overnight. “With red cabbage juice, it creates a beautiful blue tone.”

In order for the eggs to have a beautiful shine, they need to be polished after dyeing. Mittermayr says you can do this with olive oil drizzled on a soft kitchen towel. Or with bacon rind. “I come from the farm,” he adds. There was a shell left there that could be reused in this way. “I love the bacon scent that glazing the crust gives to the eggs.”

Source : Blick