Happy Greek Easter!
Xristos Anesti!
One of my fondest memories of Greek Easter was decorating the Easter eggs. My mother would send us kids out to rummage thru the neighbors gardens, the parks, our back yard etc for odd shaped leaves. We would bring these all home, sit around our kitchen table where my mum had already cut up pieces of panty hose she’d been collecting for a while. We’d place the leaves as flat as possible over the egg, then with the piece of panty hose wrap it around the egg and tie a double knot on the back. We would do at least 3 – 4 dozen eggs this way.
My mum would dye these eggs in batches. There was always more red eggs than any other colour, this being the religious traditional colour. Probably symbolizing Jesus’ blood. I wasn’t paying attention in scripture. Then she’d do canary yellow, Green and Blue. They always came out vibrant. She’d then wait for them to cool down, then take off the panty hose and leaves, and then literally polish them with oil until they came out shiny!
She’d get the best bowl she owned or some lovely baskets and line them with lovely cloth, then fill this up with the eggs. All this was done with precision and attention to detail. She definitely took pride when decorating and showcasing these eggs. These eggs were then the centre piece on our humungous extra dining room table in our extra dining room which was only used on special occasions. Go figure.
She still does this to this day, (although we don’t have the extra dining room) unfortunately I’m not there to help her anymore as I’m living in the UK, and she’s in Australia.
So I’ve decided to do my own. I decided to use natural dyes. Even though the synthetic dyes bring out amazing colours, they’re also harmful to your health. So I opted for the natural option. I didn’t use the panty hose method because I wanted to master colouring eggs the natural way. I dyed a half dozen first, and they were a disappointment. I tried another recipe I found with another ½ dozen and they turned out a little better. Although I was by no means over the moon with the end result.
Next year I will try a different method. But for now this is what I did to get these marbling effects.
I love hard boiled eggs, especially first thing in the morning on Easter Sunday. We as a family (and this is traditionally Greek), would choose our egg, then each have a turn at hitting each other’s egg. Point end-to-end first, then arse end-to-end. The egg which is left last unscathed and un-cracked is the winner. Symbolising the winner will be having a great year. Then we sit and eat our egg. Perhaps eat a couple more eggs, and then attack the huge selection of Greek cakes and biscuits that my mum had been making over the week. Since we’d been fasting for the whole week, all we could do is look, drool and anticipate the coming of Easter Sunday were we could happily gorge ourselves in all the lovely delicacies and food my mother had slaved away all week to make. The feast on this day surpassed anything. And this was just breakfast… I haven’t even mentioned lunch! That’s for another day.
Happy Greek Easter!
- 6 Organic, free-range eggs
- 500g or 4 x Beetroot (vacume sealed)
- 300g or 1 tub of Blackberries
- 4 Tbs White Vinegar
- Filtered water
- BEETROOT COLOURING
- Place beetroot in a saucepan with 4 Cups of filtered water
- Bring to boil
- Add the 3 eggs and continue to boil for 5 min
- Remove the eggs and place onto the egg carton to completely cool off
- Then reduce the mixture to a simmer
- Simmer for 1hour on the lowest heat
- Allow mixture to completely cool
- Strain the beetroot. Keep the beetroot for later use.
- Add 2 Tbs vinegar
- Place the eggs in the liquid and leave to soak overnight – covered with cling film (Keep the liquid)
- Be careful when removing the eggs the following day as the outer skin is quiet delicate and may peel/rub off, hence the marble effect
- Allow to dry for a few hours, the colours enhance and become more pronounced after 12 – 24 hours
- Polish with oil
- BLACKBERRY COLOURING
- Place the Blackberries in a saucepan with 3 cups of filtered water
- Bring to boil
- Add the 3 eggs and continue to boil for 5 min
- Remove the eggs and place onto the egg carton to completely cool off
- Then reduce the mixture to a simmer
- Simmer for 1hour on the lowest heat
- Allow to cool completely
- Strain the Blackberries, and keep for use later
- Add 2 Tbs vinegar
- Place the eggs in the liquid and leave overnight – covered with cling film (Keep the liquid)
- Be careful when removing the eggs the following day as the outer skin is quiet delicate and may peel/rub off, hence the marble effect
- Allow to dry for a few hours, the colours enhance and become more pronounced after 12-24hours
- Polish with oil
- (You can use the beetroot and its water along with the Blackberries and their water to make the following reduction)
- FRUIT/VEG REDUCTION TECHNIQUE
- WHAT TO DO WITH THE REMAINING LIQUID, BEETROOT & BLACKBERRIES
- In one saucepan, place the blackberries with their water and in another saucepan do the same for the beetroot.
- Bring to boil, and then simmer on the lowest heat until reduced. Be careful not to over reduce as they will caramelise and evaporate. Stirring occasionally.
- Once mixtures have reduced to a pulp. Turn off heat, continue to stir, transfer to a bowl. Allow to cool
- Now you have 2 concentrated flavours that can be used in making desserts. Here I used the Blackberry mixture to make truffle balls which turned out delicious. These are called ‘Blackberry, fig & Maca Balls’ found under Desserts. Also, I replaced the applesauce in cakes with the beetroot mixture. Turned out delicious!
- Have fun experimenting!
