In article <[email hidden]>, Wayne Boatwright
Quoted message said:On Sat 26 Mar 2005 10:46:31a, Melba's Jammin' wrote in rec.food.cooking:
Quoted message said:In article <[email hidden]>, Wayne Boatwright
Quoted message said:What's the secret to dyeing solid-colored Easter eggs that have an even
color without streaks and spots?
I always buy Paas Easter Egg Coloring Kit, the one with the dye
tablets. The instructions have varied over the years, but not the
result. I always seem to end up with streaks and spots.
This year's instructions call for dissolving each tablet in 3
tablespoons of vinegar, then adding 1/2 cup of cold water.
I always make sure that the pot I boil the eggs in is scrupulously
clean out of the dishwasher and grease free. This year I even boiled
the eggs in distilled water, with a small amount of white vinegar added
to the water.
I also make sure that my hands are absolutely grease free when I handle
the eggs.
The eggs are still sitting the dye as I type and I can already see the
uneven coloration. I have stirred them around in the dye.
Any ideas?
TIA
Well, chickens and their eggs aren't what they used to be when you were
a kid, Wayne. Their diets, which affect the shells, are different.
Blame it on mass production. You might try washing the eggs with a
solution of baking soda and water, rinsing, then dipping them briefly in
white vinegar before coloring them.
Also, try using medium size eggs -- the shells are generally thicker
than large.
I'll keep these notes for next year, Barb. I'm also going to try food
coloring instead of the Paas kit.
Quoted message said:Did you ever see any pictures of my Easter eggs? I've just posted a
picture: <www.jamlady.eboard.com>
These are gorgeous, Barb!
Thank you very much. Dakujem velmi pekny.
Quoted message said:I remember you writing about the class you gave. Are these Ukrainian,
That whirring sound you hear is my mother spinning in her grave. <:-0)
Not Ukrainian. I belong to an obscure group of peoples who like to
argue about whether or not we should or should not claim Ukrainian
heritage. My mother never wanted to be called Ukrainian and that's good
enough for me. Oh, the group, by the way, are called Carpatho-Rusins,
or Rusins, or Rusyns. Never had a state of their own but live in other
countries -- there are lots in NE Slovakia where "our people" are,
western Ukraine, and maybe some in southern Poland. All close to each
other, the countries are. Consider how the borders in that neck of the
world have changed in the last, what, 100 years or so?, and you can see
where orneriness can abound. There's a great story a guy (former head
of the local Rusin Association) told about a man who was born in one
country, went to school in another, married in another, and died in yet
another. And he never left his village!! I bill myself as Slovak
because it's easier for others to identify with than to try to explain
the differences between the true Slovaks and the Rusin folks. And I
don't know what they are -- (and don't care a whole lot, either) -- MUCH
to the consternation of said former organization weenie.
You may call them Czecho-Slovak pysanky (yeah, same word as the
Ukrainian word for their eggs -- and the Polish, I think -- I believe
the root word means "to write" -- I'm sure Bubba Vic will correct me if
I'm way off) as I do at my demonstration at the annual Festival of
Nations in St. Paul (in four weeks, thank you). I'm always eager to
tell people that several cultures make beautiful eggs -- decorate them
with wax, in fact, -- but the Ukrainian folks have done a better PR job
than the rest of us to the extent that when people see a fancy decorated
Easter egg (and we're not talking Fabergé here, ok?) they will, unless
they're really paying attention, say, "Oh, look! It's one of those
Ukrainian Easter eggs." And then I explain the differences with what I
demonstrate (a raised wax vs a batik process): the process is
different, the tool is different, the marks the tools make are
different, the symbols are different -- other than that they're just the
same. For the Ukrainian folks reading who might be inclined to say that
yours are "better" or prettier or that yours are "the original way to
make them and all else is a variation" -- I don't care. :-0)
Whatever. My mom taught me to do this when I was six years old and I'm
not in a contest; I'm merely sharing a folk art that I know a little bit
about and am invited to demonstrate annually.
Quoted message said:Polish...?
The fine Polish folks also decorate eggs with wax. Their patterns are
typically, I believe, more floral and with curvy lines rather than
straight lines and geometrically even patterns. I could be wrong, but
I think that's what John Reitar, the Polish egg decorator, would say.
The Lithuanians also make similar eggs - and I believe they have
different symbolic meanings for their designs.
More than you wanted to know.
OB food: If I'd leave my computer, I'd get started on the hrutka --
I've blown the eggs (I'll be decorating the shells) and have heated the
milk -- I'm going to try it in the microwave this year, as Sister Alice
swears by. I heated the milk too much, though, and am waiting for it to
cool before mixing it with the eggs.
--
-Barb, <www.jamlady.eboard.com> Arizona vacation pics added 3-24-05.
"I read recipes the way I read science fiction: I get to the end and
say,'Well, that's not going to happen.'" - Comedian Rita Rudner,
performance at New York, New York, January 10, 2005.
