I really enjoy reading Our Best Bites blog. She always has interesting recipes and pretty photos. She recently posted about silk tie dyed Easter eggs. I thought that looked pretty facinating so I hauled my happy butt off to Goodwill to find some silk ties. uhhh…a bit harder than I thought I did come home with three ties and an old sheet for about 8 bucks.
The first thing I decided to do was blow out the eggs. My sister was visiting and since I had never blown out eggs, she gave the family a little demo.
It’s a lot harder than I thought. After she was done she looked at my daughter and said “And that is how you blow an egg” why, why, why does my mind have to sink right to the gutter–I swear it’s the bad influence from my coworkers, but please tell me I’m not the only one who thought that could be taken the wrong way. ((hanging head in shame))
Anyways, moving on….
The ties had the seams ripped out and the lining removed and then cut into small sections. Each egg is then wrapped in the tie and then in a piece of old sheet or pillow case. We secured the top of the tie with small rubber bands and the top of the old sheet with jute rope.
It probably doesn’t have to be a 2 person operations, but it just made it easier since the blown out eggs are a bit fragile. Damn, I need a manicure–those hands are looking old!
After they are all wrapped up put them in a large pan.
If you have blown the eggs out they will want to float to the top, so I added a colander to the pan to hold them down. Be sure to add a 1/4 cup of white vinegar to the water.
Bring the eggs to a boil and then simmer for 20-25 minutes. I’m not sure if they have to simmer this long if the eggs are blown out, but I did just to be safe. Remove from the pan and let cool completely before unwrapping.
Here’s how our eggs looked when they were done. I’m pretty happy with the end results for our first attempt.
Some things to take into consideration. When wrapping the egg in the silk tie try to have the tie touching the egg without any folds…otherwise you get these goofy white lines.
Also, make sure the ties are 100% silk and that you double check the label. See the 2nd photo, there are 3 ties in the picture? Yep, the black tie in the center was not 100% silk. They egg came out as white as when it went in.
You can rub a bit of vegetable oil on your eggs to make them shiny.
I’ll be on the hunt for some cool looking silk ties to try this again.
ETA: Just check the Our Best Bites site again and it looks like she ties the silk at the side of the egg vs. the top….that might make a difference in how many white lines are on the egg.
How do you color your Easter eggs?