SC - Frumenty - yet one nore question!

[Sharon R. Saroff]

>Greetings the list
>
>At our most recent cooks guild meeting we dyed eggs using natural dyes.
>The colors came out amazingly bright!  I will post pictures once I get them
>developed.
>I know the cabbage and the onion-skin dyed eggs are safe to eat.  I am
>wondering if the eggs boiled for 20 minutes in water containing crushed
>cochneal (did I get the spelling at least close?) are safe to eat?  And
>where could I find more information on natural dyes - other colors, period
>colors...  I found 2 relevant web sites, and of those, one lists dyes and
>then states some of these (and does not specify which) are not safe to eat
>;-(.
>
>So thank you all for the help!
>
>Gwen-Cat
>Caerthe

Hello!  Dame Alys & I are working on an article on the topic of period food
coloring agents. All the following are safe to eat, but may flavor the eggs.

Alys, if you're there, I know we discussed egg dyes several years ago.
This is what I sent you :
saffron/white vinegar-yellow;
sandalwood/white vinegar-rose pink;
yellow onion skin/white vinegar-mahogany brown;
and saffron/sandalwood-white vinegar-orange.
I tried parsley/white vinegar for green, but the egg stayed white.

And what you replied to me (found in a newspaper article): All the coloring
agents were boiled in 3 inches of water with 1 tsp. white vinegar for 1
hour.  Then the eggs are added & cooked in the dye for 20 minutes.
spinach leaves/vinegar - pale green
red onion skins/vinegar - pale blue
beets/vinegar - pink
yellow onion skins/vinegar - yellow or gold
paprika/vinegar - rusty brown
coffee or walnut shells/vinegar - deep brown
frozen blueberries/vinegar - pale gray/blue
saffron or turmeric/vinegar - bright yellow
red cabbage/vinegar - blue
Variation: use 1 tsp. alum instead of white vinegar to set the dye.

Have you found any more?

Regards,

Cindy Renfrow
renfrow at skylands.net
Author & Publisher of "Take a Thousand Eggs or More, A Collection of 15th
Century Recipes" and "A Sip Through Time, A Collection of Old Brewing
Recipes"
http://www.alcasoft.com/renfrow/


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