Monday, April 2, 2012

DIY Cascarones That Won't Anger Neighbors Part 2

Preparation of cascarones (confetti filled eggs) can be rather intimidating.  Mainly, because it's hard to eat that large of an amount of eggs!  Top that off with a need to not anger neighbors who aren't used to the tradition, and you've got quite a large amount of work on your hands.

Yesterday I elected to create my own egg dye using plants.  I started by boiling yellow sweet onion skins in a cup of water.  I added just a touch of vinegar to the mix in order to ensure the color set.



I ended up with a pale yellow color than bordered on tan.  The coloration was very smooth, and kind of reminded me of a natural off-white egg color.

Having done well with the sweet onion, I did the same thing with red onion skins.


The result was one of the richest yellows I've ever seen!  I actually expected a pink or a purple, so I was rather surprised by this outcome.

By this time I was feeling pretty confident.  I thought, "Hey!  Grass stains are green, so if I boil grass, maybe I can get a green dye!"  Excitedly, I ran outside and cut a bunch of crabgrass, which I then proceeded to boil and add vinegar to, as per my last two dye recipes.


Unfortunately, I never got a chance to see what color came from this.  The smell of the boiling crabgrass was so overwhelming that I had to pour it down the drain before I had gotten to the point of completion.  Crabgrass is not something I would recommend boiling.  Ugh.

After my dyes were complete I poured them in cups just big enough to fit the liquid and the eggs, then soaked the egg shells for a little bit.  After drying the eggs I tore small pieces of white paper and soaked them in the dye, as well.  These pieces of paper would be used to seal the shells once they were filled.

More on this in my next post:  DIY Cascarones That Won't Anger Neighbors Part 3.

For the first part of this sequence go to:
DIY Cascarones That Won't Anger Your Neighbors!

No comments:

Post a Comment