How do I make traditional Polish kraszanka for Easter?

[Borek]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_pisanka

These will be what we call in Poland kraszanka:

1. Put onion peelings and water into pot. The older and drier the peelings the better, you don't use a fresh ones. The more peelings the better. You will prefer to use and old pot, as it may get colored and can be hard to clean.

2. Wash eggs with some detergent. Eggs are covered with fat - it keeps them fresh for much longer, but it makes them hard to get colored.

3. Put eggs into cold water with peelings and boil them - I wait till they start to boil plus about 10 minutes, or (when coloring) even a little bit longer.

4. And they are brown You may try to scratch them with a sharp tool to add an ornament, although it is not easy - I mean egg shell is rather delicate so you need some experience to make a scratch and not a hole. They can be eaten just like hard boiled eggs are, even if the shell was broken and egg became stained.

Some add a table spoon of vinegar to water - this is assumed to make coloring easier. In my experience it doesn't matter. You may also try to use spinach leaves or beetroot to make eggs green or red.

 

[Moonbear]

My grandmother always colored eggs that way too (she's Polish as well). I tried it for the first time a couple of years ago with the onion skins and beet root, and it didn't work well without adding a little vinegar to the water. I think it may be the residual coating on the eggs that the vinegar helps cut through (they dip eggs in a waxy sort of coating here to help them store longer when sold in the supermarkets).

I like the rich brown and the purplish red that you get from those natural ways of dying the eggs, and I just like the idea better than using food colorings.

 

[Borek]

(they dip eggs in a waxy sort of coating here to help them store longer when sold in the supermarkets)

That can be a problem. As far as I know it is not done here.

 

[Evo]

Now *these* are decorated eggs. This is done using layers of wax and colors.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gtrgeorge/2354221530/in/pool-pysanky

This one is my favorite.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_v2zEq0iZp...D60/rHIEmP9rY28/s400/Cat+Angel+Easter+Egg.jpg

 

[Borek]

They are said to be Ukrainian, but they don't differ from Polish "pisanki". Some customs ignore international borders.

 

[Borg]

Timely thread, Borek. My wife is Russian and introduced me to this style of egg coloring. It took me a couple of years to not automatically throw out onion skins. Here's a picture from a few years ago. The cylindrical dough is kulich and the white dome is strained Farmer's cheese with raisens and citrus zest called Pasha. Pasha means Easter in Russian.

 

[Moonbear]

Now *these* are decorated eggs. This is done using layers of wax and colors.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gtrgeorge/2354221530/in/pool-pysanky

This one is my favorite.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_v2zEq0iZp...D60/rHIEmP9rY28/s400/Cat+Angel+Easter+Egg.jpg

Do you know what kind of wax should be used to do that? When I was a kid, my mom would let us try making some by melting the paraffin wax you use for canning (i.e., put the layer on top of jellies) but it never stayed stuck to the eggs very well (go figure...I seemed to have trouble with wax coming and going). Maybe I need to get fresh eggs to get the wax to stick right (the experiment at the farm that was producing dozens of eggs a day ended a while ago, so no freebie, fresh eggs anymore ).

 

[Borek]

From what I understand the original procedure involved bee wax. I think it is more sticky than paraffin.

 

[GeorginaS]

The colour you achieve on the eggs is gorgeous, Borek.

 

[Borek]

The colour you achieve on the eggs is gorgeous, Borek.

Try, it is really simple.

And even if it will not work, you don't have to tell anyone and you can simply destroy the evidence eating it.

 

[hypatia]

Also try beet juice, for a great reddish color.

 

[Borek]

Sigh.

 

[Moonbear]

From what I understand the original procedure involved bee wax. I think it is more sticky than paraffin.

Ah, so I need to find bees with dirty ears?

 

[Borek]

You may need nano ear cleaners for that, but I guess you got the idea.