Lilikoi & Thyme

Every Easter weekend growing up, Mom and I celebrated with her circle of artist friends with an amazing feast. These women, weavers, sculptors, paper makers, fiber artists, taught me the beauty and thrill of making by hand. These stunning Easter eggs are a perfect example–the dramatic amber color comes from a dye of onion skins, saved from New Year’s day to April, and a resist technique creates the delicate graphic designs on the surface.  As a little girl, I was responsible for picking ferns and leaves from the garden outside, while all the women in attendance had to bring their old stockings & nylons (pre-washed, please!) to sacrifice to the scissors. We use the delicate stretchy mesh to secure the leaves and petals on the eggs while they sit in the dye.  Fishnets make some great chain-link designs, by the way.  Instead of hiding these garnet-colored beauties, we proudly display them at each place setting to whet the appetite for the five course dinner to come.  Here in Downtown LA, I not only lack a garden — I can’t even keep anything alive in my windowsill. However, I think I did pretty well with simple parsley leaves and the tops from carrots I got in my weekly CSA box, fresh from the farm.

Herb & Onion Dyed Easter Eggs

• Brown skins of at least a dozen onions
• 6 eggs
• herbs, ferns, other pesticide-free plant leaves

Pair of old nylons, preferably clean

Crunch the onion skins into a medium saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer 15 minutes. Remove from heat and leave to steep until the water is a rich reddish brown, while preparing the eggs.

Clip the herbs and leaves into small lengths and individual leaves.  Dampen the egg and the leaves to help them stick firmly where you place them, and arrange a sprig or a few leaves on an egg to block the onion dye from reaching the area covered by the leaves.  Starting with one foot of the old nylons, stretch it around the egg and tie it tightly with a knot or twist tie to hold the leaves in place.  Cut the tied egg away from the empty stocking.  Tie another knot at the open end of the empty nylon leg, and repeat, tying off the nylon around each egg. By this time the dye water should be warm, not hot. Load the eggs into the saucepan–they should be completely covered with water. If not, add just enough to cover them.  Bring the pot to a boil, cover, and remove from heat. Let the eggs soak in the dye until the whole pot comes to warm room temperature.

Fish out the eggs, snip off the knots and rinse off the eggs, discarding the nylons and herbs. Pat the eggs dry, and rub them with a bit of vegetable oil to bring out the shine and brilliant deep color.