Slovenian Women's Union of America NYC

On Sunday, April 9, we met for our much anticipated egg dying event. Five regular members and three guests attended, including Vesna's friend and Sonja's parents who were visitng from out of town. Vesna was kind enough to host this event in her home and Tea yet again displayed her skills while demonstrating a traditional Slovene Easter egg dying technique using herb leaves and red onion skins. We started with a beautiful and fragrant assortment of herbs, including basil, sage, rosemary and parsley, which per Tea's instructions were to be submerged into a bowl of warm water, a number of brown eggs, a bunch of dark red onion skins and a pile of nylon pantyhose. The moistened herbs were applied to the eggs (the water helps the leaves stick to the eggs and form a design pattern), which were then tightly wrapped in pieces of pantyhose, with the ends tied with sewing thread for a secure fit. The challenge was getting the eggs into the pantyhose and tightening the thread without moving the leaves! The onion skins were placed in a large pot of water, with addition of a little bit of vinegar, and brought to a boil. The prepared eggs were carefully placed in the pot. Once cooked, the eggs were removed, drained of excess water, placed in cold water to help them cool, and eventually cut free of the pantyhose revealing beautiful red brown color acquired from the onion skins and a pattern of the herb leaves in the original color of the egg. The final step was polishing the eggs with olive oil which brought out the lovely dark color and contrast of the leaf designs.

We had a wonderful time working on the designs, in spite of the challenge of getting them to come out right in the end (it sounds easier than it actually is!), and chatting while waiting for the eggs to cook. Among other things Vesna pointed out a feature in one of the past issues of Gourmet Magazine on Slovenia and Farm Tourism, which included a few delicious recipes. The article is not available online free of charge but one of the recipes, for Farmer Cheese Dumplings, can be found here.


New York City Branch of Slovenian Women's Union of America