（英語→日本語の順で書いてあります）
I love decorating and preparing goodies for Easter, but until very recently it seemed this just wasn’t one of the holidays that’s recognized (at least not commercially) here in Japan. Disneyland uses an Easter egg theme for it’s spring decor and some of the international chocolate companies – ranging from Lindt to KitKat – have had bunny-themed offerings, however it’s only in the past year or two that I’ve started to notice little garlands and plastic eggs in places like the 100yen shops.
From chatting with Japanese friends and family, I find many don’t know why Easter is celebrated in other cultures and what bunnies or eggs have to do with it. It’s a lot to explain. I like to keep it simple and for me, the themes of renewal and fresh starts at this time of year feel pretty universal. So let’s throw open our windows for a bit of fresh air and bring some color into our homes to celebrate spring!
Dying eggs for Easter is a fun tradition that I’ve enjoyed sharing with our kids and I typically use a kit that my mom sends from the US to create bright, vibrant eggs. Our son loves the cheerful colors too and asks to dye eggs on and off throughout the year. Food dye and vinegar are a year-round option, but I’ve also seen a lot of ideas for how to color eggs using natural dyes and wanted to give it a try.
For our first attempt, we raided the cabinets and decided to use what we already had to dye some hard-boiled eggs with tea.
日本でもイースターエッグが一般的になってきましたね。
ディスニーランドでもイースターバージョンになってたり、
100円均一などでもイースター用の商品が取り揃えされてますね。
さてそんなイースターですが、日本約は復活祭（なんか硬い印象になる）
イースター日は下記のルールで決まります。
春分の日の後の、フルムーンの後→日曜日（3/22〜4/25の間になる）
今年は、
①春分 3/20Mon
②春分の後の最初の満月の日 4/11Tue
③フルムーンの後の最初の日曜日 4月16日Sun
分かりにくいですね。
今回は、着色剤を使わない体に良さそうな
ティーで染めるイースターエッグの作り方を紹介します。
Tea Type & Color | ティーの種類と色
We had three different varieties of tea to test: a rooibos/earl grey blend, an herbal chamomile blend and a hibiscus/berry blend.
今回はストックしていたティーを使って試してみました。
- ルイボスアールグレイ（茶色）→？色
- カモンミール（黄色）→？色
- ハイビスカス（赤色）→？色
それぞれ何色に染まるでしょうか？
Preparation & Method | 準備
Start by boiling your eggs. My favorite method is to cover the eggs in cold water, bring it to a rolling boil for a minute or so, then cover the pot and remove from the heat. The amount of time you let the eggs sit will determine their done-ness, so I usually go 10-15 minutes for eggs that we plan to use in salads, then quickly rinse with cold water and ice to stop the cooking.
At the same time, you can brew your tea. We didn’t have multiple tea bags in each flavor so we only used one, but two might result in a stronger color. The ratio we used was about 2 cups hot water to 1 tbsp white vinegar.
１.ゆで卵を作る
２.着色用の下地準備
①酢：大さじ１杯5
②お湯：500ml
を混ぜる→室温になるまで待つ。
Once the tea had cooled a bit (we didn’t want to continue the cooking process) we plopped in the eggs.
3.ゆで卵を2.着色料下地の中に入れる
When the tea was cooled all the way to room temperature, we moved it into the fridge to let the eggs sit overnight.
4.冷蔵庫の中に入れて一晩待つ
Results | 結果（普通の卵との比較）
Our little guy was so excited to check the eggs in the morning! Here’s what we found:
The rooibos blend turned the egg a warm, orange-brown.
ルイボスアールグレイ（茶色）→濃い黄色
The herbal chamomile blend turned the egg a soft greenish-yellow.
カモンミール（黄色）→薄い黄色
And the hibiscus/berry blend, which made a bright pink tea, dyed the eggs a stormy grey-blue color.
ハイビスカス（赤色）→青色の卵ができました。
The result is a palate of soft, natural colors which look very similar to the eggs that different types of chickens actually lay!
柔らかい色のイースターエッグができました。
何もしていない卵と比較すると結構染まってますね！
We handled the eggs a little too much while they were wet, so I’d recommend letting them sit to dry if you want to keep an even color. And although we didn’t try it this time, I wonder how it would look to drop one of the chamomile eggs into the hibiscus tea for a while?
今回はイースターの予行練習で作ってみましたが、
本番ではもっとバリエーションを増やして作ってみたいと思います。
あなたも是非挑戦してみてくださいね！
Do you dye eggs for Easter? What’s your preferred method? Please let us know if you give tea dying a try!
Kxx
