After reading about tea-dyed eggs for years, I decided it was time to experiment—or should I say eggs-periment? Last week, when I mentioned my failed attempts to produce a perfectly shaped and perfectly cooked hard-boiled egg, several of you were kind enough to share your tips, which I will be trying until I find the perfect method. This time, because I wanted to dye the eggs with tea, I used the directions I found
here.
Once the eggs were boiled and cooled under running water, I did as directed and created cracks by gently tapping on the egg with the back of a spoon. I really had no idea if I was cracking them in anything resembling a nice pattern, but after I added the tea leaves to the pot of water and simmered the cracked eggs for an hour, thanks to the "dye" from the tea, I could see that the cracks looked just fine.
And voila, my first tea-dyed egg! That's the good news.
Well, that and this pretty inner shell. I found myself wishing I could turn the inner shell inside out and save it, because that design looks like lace!
The bad news, alas, is that I once again have flat-bottomed eggs, which means these aren't fit to go on the pretty new egg plate I recently bought. When I clicked on the directions above and again looked at the photo, I realized that several of those eggs were flat-bottomed as well, so maybe that's simply how this particular recipe turns out. Next time, I'm not going to worry about using a tea dye recipe. I'm going to try one of your recipes for perfectly formed eggs, and then I'll worry about the cracking and dyeing later!
They are so lovely! I had one as part of "tea" at Lan Su Gardens in Portland, not long ago. It was delicious, if not quite so pretty as yours.
ReplyDeleteThat crackle effect is pretty cool! Maybe the flat bottomed ones need to sit in an egg cup, flat side down! Happy Easter anyway.
ReplyDeleteThe flat spot on the bottom of the egg happens because of the air pocket that naturally occurs in all eggs. It has nothing to do with your cooking method. I'm guessing that was a very old egg, as the air pocket gets bigger as eggs get older. If you want less of a flat spot on the bottom, try using fresher eggs. They still might not be perfect, but they'll be closer to round.
ReplyDeleteAngela, Your eggs are charming. One idea for saving your pretty eggshells is to rinse them off well after peeling and use for a mosaic art project.
ReplyDeleteHappy Easter!
Janet P.
What a beautiful design it makes!
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't worry about the flat bottom. They'll be yummy nonetheless! Does your recipe include anise, cinnamon, soy sauce, etc? That's a heavenly mix!
ReplyDeleteI love the look of these eggs, and I am with Janet above and thought of making a mosaic with the shells -- maybe on a smaller photo frame. I might just make some of these tea stained eggs to get the shells and try this. Thanks for sharing. Happy Easter!
ReplyDeleteI've never tried the tea stained eggs - but I agree - they are quite charming!
ReplyDeleteThese are very neat!
ReplyDeleteThey are very pretty. At our WuWo Tea Ceremony group someone often brings tea dyed eggs in
ReplyDeletea lapsong sousong tea, quite good.