Hello and happy First Day of Spring (according to the Roman calendar). See my post here about how I celebrated the beginning of Spring a long time ago!I'm sending a shout-out and birthday wishes to Roxy Red today! Roxy Red is one of the most dedicated tea drinkers I know!
I'm also participating in Par Tea Planner's First Day of Spring tea party. Here's my spring tea table:
It's a diminutive set, perfect for a child and her (or his) doll. The DH (dear hubby) found it at a local thrift store. I love the Alice in Wonderland motif!
Speaking of Spring, here is my version of Easter eggs. They're tea died and I think they're fabulous...but there's a reason I only made two! Recipe below. Main ingredient: patience!
The two brightly webbed eggs still have their thin skin intact (mostly). The other two do not. You can see that the tea dying is still present on the left/right eggs, but it's much less impressive. What is so hard - and takes so much patience - is peeling the hard boiled eggs so that the skin does not come off. I had to chip away, one tiny piece at a time.
For the patient lot of you, here are the instructions:
- Hard boil your eggs.
- Make a saucepan full of really strong black tea (use enough liquid to cover the eggs).
- With a spoon, lightly crack the egg shells (the more cracks, the more pattern). Be sure not to crack so much that the shell falls off. It needs to be cracked, but still intact.
- Let the eggs steep over night in the tea bath, in the fridge.
- Shell very carefully and enjoy!
Silly question... does the egg taste like the tea you steeped it in overnight? If so, any suggestions on flavors, or is it better to use a plain black tea?
ReplyDeleteThat is a great question! I used a black Apricot tea, b/c it's what I had in my hand at the moment. There was ever-so-subtle a hint of Apricot aroma and flavor.
ReplyDeleteIf someone were into Lapsang Souchong (smoke tea), I think this would work great. That's not my preference.
I think an Earl Grey would make an interesting experiment.
This would also be a fun experiment to try with matcha (brigt green, powdered green).
I think you could get the same results if you could have tea with the Easter Bunny! The Easter Bunny does like tea, right? And brings eggs...so it's just a no-brainer!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the tea eggs - I have always wanted to make these, just haven't taken the time. Your recipe is the first time I have seen a simple overnight soak in a tea bath. That sounds easy! Were your eggs fresh? Hard boiled eggs peel easier if you use 'older' eggs rather than freshly purchased eggs. Would that have made the process easier?
ReplyDeleteGreat tip on using older eggs - mine were pretty fresh!
ReplyDeleteThe miniature "Alice in Wonderland" tea set is so cute, the little ones would love it.
ReplyDeleteJudith
Wow! Very impressive! You are very creative and have ALOT of patience!
ReplyDeleteWe are already planning pastel eggs with a gold leaf look finish and Spiderman eggs for the grandsons. Now, I'll have to try the tea eggs. They are so pretty.
ReplyDeleteI did find one recipe for Chinese Marbled Eggs in my "Steeped In Tea" book that said to boil the eggs for about 15 minutes, crack them, return them to the original pan of water, add black tea leaves and gently simmer on low heat for about 20 minutes.
I think they would then taste very overcooked. Your method sounds more practical. Thanks for the idea.
Cool post! I've wanted to try that for some time now. Perhaps now I finally will... BTW, Rosemary is correct about the age of the eggs. I hope that the allure of ease will encourage you to try again (perhaps with Earl Grey?) and fill us all in on your results! :)
ReplyDeleteI will have to try soaking eggs in the tea. Do the eggs taste like tea?
ReplyDeleteYou are so creative! I so enjoyed this post. Happy Birthday!
ReplyDelete