It’s fun to colour Easter eggs. Pink and yellow and lavender eggs are part of the Easter tradition. And of course, kids love colours.

Learn the proper way to colour eggs plus learn how to boil an egg and avoid the green on the yolk.

1. Choose fresh eggs free from cracks.

2. Commercial egg producers coat their eggs with an oil to help seal them. Wash the eggs in a mild detergent to remove the oil and to let the colour adhere more readily to the eggs.

3. Boil the eggs to the ‘hard boil’ stage.

4. To one cup of hot water, add 2 tablespoons of white vinegar, and the desired food colouring or dye. Be sure to get enough food colouring in the water to make it a darker shade than the desired shade for the eggs. (A twelve colour gel set works well.)

5. Dip the eggs in the coloured solution until the desired shade is reached. For darker shades, leave the eggs sit in the dye for up to two hours.

6. If the eggs are to be eaten, keep them refrigerated.

Baker’s note: If you are going to use blown eggs for Easter (those with the egg blown out through a hole in the end of the shell), colour the eggs before blowing. If you blow the egg from the shell before dying, the empty, fragile shells will be difficult to immerse and handle in the dying water.

Learn how to boil an egg and avoid the green

Would you like to avoid that green coating on the yolks of your hardboiled eggs? You can do so if you time your cooking carefully. It’s a matter of temperature. Always use an egg timer.

Here’s how:

1. Use only clean, fresh eggs. Discard eggs that are cracked.

2. Lay the eggs in a heavy saucepan, one layer deep.

3. Cover them with cold water just to cover the eggs.

4. Bring the water in the pan to a rapid boil.

5. Remove the pan from the heat, cover it with a lid, and let the eggs stand in the hot water for 14 minutes.

6. Remove the eggs from the pan and place them in ice water until they are cool enough to handle.

Refrigerate any unused eggs.