I have been reliving my second childhood working with natural dyes for easter eggs. I am not an expert yet but it is got me really giddy and loving the things I did as a kid, I just loved most any creative project. Karen Kinnane just got back from Germany and told me her friend Ariane showed her the old world way of making hand blown and dyed easter eggs with natural dyes, and they decorate the village with them inside and out.
I wanted to send along some Easter goodies and a few recipes for the Easter weekend. We are going to do lamb this weekend because it is just Judy and myself. I hope next Easter I can spend with the whole family and we can relive Grandma Blocks wonderful Ham that she would bake all day and baste with red wine.
When I get better with the natural dyes I will share more. I would love to hear about your Easter traditional meal. write me at stephen@kitchenproject.com stephen@kitchenproject.com
Enjoy the music and thank you so much for all the input answering recipe requests and the nice emails you send me. You make my day!
ON With the newsletter........................
Osterbaum
(Easter Tree)
Karen Kinnane just got back from Kleinzerbst, Germany and talks about the German Osterbaums that decorate many villages
Karen writes...Germany is very festive, so many homes in the villages including Kleinzerbst have "Easter egg trees" inside and outside the houses. Inside they often use forsythia branches and in time the "trees" sprout yellow flowers, plus the blown out and decorated colored eggs.
Anne and her Mother used to dye the eggs with home made colors, blowing out the eggs for the shells for the Ostern tree decorations, and using the bent wood match with the string through the egg shell out the smaller hole at the top of the eggshell in order to hang them from the ostern tree after dyeing them with the natural dyes: purple red from beets, yellow from onion skins, green from the stinging nettles of which I don't know the German name or the American name as we have them here at the edge between the fields and the woods. You don't want to touch this plant because it stings your bare skin, makes it itch, NOT POISON IVY! They boiled the organic material and then boiled the eggs in the colored water.
Here is a nice colored egg that I made by boiling yellow onion skins. I was
very pleased with the nice goldish yellow color.
Wash the egg to get anything off that might keep the dye from setting.
Use a small nail or needle and twist carefully till it goes through the shell.
Turn the egg over and repeat.
Blow out one end of the shell over a bowl, and the egg will come out.
I put the egg in the simmering yellow dye. Add salt or vinegar as a "mordant"
which is something that will help set the dye.
Here are some more natural foods to use for dye.
Natural Easter Egg Dyes
Color
Ingredients
Lavender
Small Quantity of Purple Grape Juice
Violet Blossoms plus 2 tsp Lemon Juice
Red Zinger Tea
Violet Blue
Violet Blossoms
Small Quantity of Red Onions Skins (boiled)
Hibiscus Tea
Red Wine
Blue
Canned Blueberries
Red Cabbage Leaves (boiled)
Purple Grape Juice
Strong Coffee
Instant Coffee
Black Walnut Shells (boiled)
Black Tea
Orange
Yellow Onion Skins (boiled)
Cooked Carrots
Chili Powder
Paprika
Pink
Beets
Cranberries or Juice
Raspberries
Red Grape Juice
Juice from Pickled Beets
Red
Lots of Red Onions Skins (boiled)
Canned Cherries with Juice
Pomegranate Juice
Raspberries
For a more intense color leave the eggs in the fridge overnight with the dye.
This takes some creativity as the eggs will float. You can improvise a light weight that will keep them submerged.
Some other German Easter Traditions
German Celebration of Ostern
In Germany there are several fun traditions.
Osterfeuer (Easter Fire)
This is a celebration in Germany held on Saturday before Easter that varies in style, depending on where you are.
Debris is burned and sometimes old Christmas trees , (Tannenbaum) to clean out the old and have a clean start for the Spring,sort of a purification ritual.
The celebration dates back to pagan times when making sacrifices was a way to bring blessings of the gods.
Like most of our celebrations the religious leaders altered them to have religious significance.
German Osterfeuer
This is an osterfeuer from back in April 2001
The Children play a game called Chocolate kiss
Chocolate Kiss is played with chocolate-covered marshmallows. The object of the game is to gobble up marshmallows without allowing others to smear your face with the chocolate. The winner is the person who can eat the most chocolate marshmallows with the cleanest face.
When Grandma took a notion to bake a ham, she used generous amounts of Grandpa’s homemade wine to baste it with while it was cooking. The spicy aroma of the ham, wine, cloves, and brown sugar baking in the oven left no doubt about what was for dinner! In the old days, she’d buy a real smoked ham, with the bone in and skin on. After having the skin taken off, it was boiled to get some of the salt out of the meat, then covered with brown sugar and cloves, and baked in wine. Those hams were truly memorable!
The Easter holiday in many German familie's homes includes a grand breakfast with many extras on the table like fresh flowers, gifts and candy and even cake in the shape of a lamb or rabbit.
Osterbrot
( Easter Bread also called Babka Osterbrot)
Osterbrot is a traditional Easter Bread it is baked in various shapes and often with decorated Easter eggs.
I order from the German Deli more frequently than ever.
I try to get in bulk to make the shipping dollars count.
Also there are sales all the time I like to take advantage of.
They are nice folks. If you don't believe me call them.
and tell them Stephen Block sent you from the German Goodies Newsletter.
Our Retail Store has moved!
Our new and improved retail store is now open in Colleyville!
The address: 5100 State Hwy 121 Colleyville, TX 76034
(817) 354-8101
Hours of operation:
Mon - Sat: 9am - 9pm
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Kitchen Tool Review
The Wooden Spoon
One of my favorite and most used kitchen tools.
I love the feel and sturdiness of a wooden spoon. I can use it in any
non-stick pan, The flat bottom is nice so you can scrape the bottom
to loosen food as it is cooking.
I don't mind paying for a good wooden spoon. I paid 12 dollars for mine
It seems like a lot for a spoon but I use it every day and I love it!
I really appreciate all of you that donate recipes, and help answer
folks requests. Most of the newsletter is based on what folks request and
what you donate. I love to research the recipe and then put it on here
for all to enjoy.
When you email the recipe to those that request please send the recipe to
me also at
stephen@kitchenproject.com
My name is Barbara Schwindt and I'm in my mid seventies. I learn to cook alot of german dishes in my younger years from my husband's mother and grandmother and through out the years I sort of forgotten some of the dishes as to what goes in them. They were from Dickinson area in North Dakota. The ones I am trying to find is a Borsch soup with the main ingredient as beets and beet tops, and lots of veggies, that you added a cream I believe it was half and half. Very tasty but I can't remember the spices for taste. A couple of receipes I saw on your web page was Kasekuchen, hot german potato salad and Apple Strudel that is stretch on a table, and Spaetzle. Also a fried chicken with onions with cream of some kind added. She called it (Iwill try to spell like it sounds) Grambria. Thank you very much and will appreciate any help you can give me.
Hi Stephen, Was tickled to find your website. I am looking for a recipe that we enjoyed at a celebration in New Lipzig, North Dakota. I have my Grandmother's recipes for all our family favorites including Kase Knipfla. But they made the dough into little dumplings, boiled them and then put them in a crockpot with cream? milk? bacon? or ham. They told me they cook it all day in the crockpot. It was so rich and creamy and so satisfying. Hope you can help me find a recipe for it. They also served their Kase Knipfla with sourkraut while ours is served with a tomato/hamberger "gravy". Looking forward to receiving your newsletter.
Dear Stephen:
Can you also share about the story of pan-brezen? I heard it was only served on the previous Sunday before Easter. It must be some interesting stories around that.
