Whenever I think of Easter, I think of my grandmother. She made all sorts of goodies for every holiday, and she was also the one who dyed the eggs red with onion skins.

Back in my childhood, in the Ceaușescu years, I remember all too well the Gallus dye that my mom, with help from me and my sister, used to dye our Easter eggs. Those were almost magical moments for a kid like me. These days we’re used to coloring our eggs with onion skins. We’ve been doing it for years now, and it doesn’t take one bit away from the magic.

I love dyeing eggs naturally, and every year I look for the best ways to bring even more plant-based colors to our holiday table. That’s how I ended up dyeing eggs with red cabbage, turmeric or beets, black tea and even spinach.

But since red eggs are the symbol of Easter, today we’ll focus on them.

You’ll need:

*white eggs

*regular (brown) eggs

*a handful of red onion skins

*a handful of yellow onion skins

*7 black tea bags

*1 tablespoon of white vinegar for each pot you dye in

*about 2 liters of water per pot

Method

1. Wash the eggs well and dry them

2. Pour warm water into three pots: put the yellow onion skins in the first, the red onion skins in the second and the black tea bags in the third. Bring everything to a boil, add 1 tablespoon of vinegar to each pot and place the raw eggs in the pots, depending on how you want to color them

3. So, if you put white eggs in the pot with red onion skins, you’ll get a very dark brick red, almost brown

4. If you put white eggs in the pot with yellow onion skins, you’ll get a not-very-exciting orangey yellow.

5. A more special shade comes from white eggs dyed in black tea

6. You’ll get a lovely red if you combine regular (brown) hen’s eggs with red onion, but the most beautiful, truest red comes from putting regular (brown) eggs in the pot with the simmering yellow onion skins.

7. However you decide to combine them, once the eggs are in the pots with the onion skins and black tea, let them boil for about 10 minutes, then lift them out into a dish lined with paper towels

8. To make them shine, rub the eggs with sunflower oil on a paper napkin while they’re still hot