Reducing food waste at home. Beautiful natural dye. Learn how to transform fruit and veggie scraps into a rainbow of natural dye.
You’re familiar with plant-based diets. But what about plant-based dyes? There are all sorts of plants and food scraps that can produce natural dyes for fabric, including the incredible avocado. Beloved as a delicious, creamy, and nutrient-dense plant-based food, one of its lesser-known powers is this: you can use the pit and peel as a natural dye for fabric!
Surprisingly, avocado pits and peels don’t result in a 1970s-kitchen-appliance-green natural dye, nor do they create a drab brown hue. Nope. They produce a natural dye that’s a lovely dusty shade of pink! What a beautiful way to repurpose kitchen scraps and keep them out of the landfill. Reducing food waste never looked so pretty.
Reducing Food Waste at Home
As we discuss in this post, food waste is a big problem. We’re tackling it here at Thistle, but households also have a role to play in fighting the problem. The basics of household food waste reduction include meal planning, eating leftovers, and composting.
But what’s natural dye got to do with reducing food waste at home? What’s the connection? In the case of avocado, think about how much of the fruit you actually don’t eat. The inedible peel and pit make up a large amount! When you transform the peel pit into a beautiful natural dye, you send less food waste to the landfill.
What about compost? Yes, composting is great, but when it comes to avocados, it takes up to six months for the pit and peel to decompose into nutrients the soil can readily absorb! That’s a lot slower than most other kitchen scraps, especially for DIY compost. Meanwhile, pits and peels that are simmered to make natural dye break down much faster. More beautiful DIY style for you. More nourishment reaching the earth at a faster pace. Everybody wins!
How to Make Natural Dye with Avocado
Avocado, how we love thee. Let’s count the ways.
Avocado’s almost-black peels and earthy-hued pits do something magical when you simmer them in water, the first step in creating the natural dye. They tint the water pink! The peels create a dusty rose while the pits impart a pale pink hue.
Avocado Peel and Pit Natural Dye Recipe
- Save all avocado peels and pits until you have around 6 full avocado skins
- Peel the skins into pieces and place these and the pits in 4-5 cups of water
- Put water in a pot on the stove and make sure water is simmering not boiling
- Keep the water on simmer for around 3-4 hours (checking in occasionally)
- Remove dyed water from pot and place in clear glass bowl (so doesn’t dye anything)
- Place white item in dye and let it soak overnight
- Remove item from dye and let it dry out
- Rinse item under water to remove any excess dye or avocado remnants
- Ta-daa you have a new pinkly shaded item!
What to do with all of that perfectly pink avocado dye? Here are some of our favorite textiles to dye with this prettiest of natural dyes.
- Silk and cotton scarves
- Natural canvas and cotton totes
- Canvas sneakers
- Linen or cotton cloth napkins
- Natural fiber curtains and shower curtains
- 100% cotton or linen pillowcases
Go forth and create! Repurpose household food waste into beautiful natural dye. Start with avocados. Next time you make some guacamole, don’t trash or compost the scraps. Instead, freeze the peels and pit to create natural dye. And don’t stop there; experiment with all sorts of plant scraps to make an assortment of natural dyes.
Natural Dyes from Food Waste: Avocado and Beyond
It takes only a few how-to guides and a little imagination to transform food waste into natural dye for fabric. Besides avocado pits and peels, here’s a few other food scraps you can use to create a rainbow of natural dye for fabric:
Red:
- Beet peels
- Cherries
Raspberries
Orange:
- Paprika
- Red onion skins
Yellow:
- Lemon peels
- Pomegranate peels
- Turmeric
- Yellow onion skins
Green:
- Artichokes
- Fresh herbs
- Spinach
Blue:
- Blueberries
Purple:
- Blackberries
- Red cabbage leaves
To make a natural dye solution, boil food scraps in a pot of water for up to a day; the longer you boil them, the brighter the dye. Likewise for the length of time you soak fabric in the dye: the longer the soak, the brighter the final result. Speaking of fabrics, choose only 100% natural fibers like cotton, linen, wool, and silk. Natural dye won’t “stick” to synthetic fabrics.
To prevent fading, some of the above natural dye ingredients require a fixative, often called “mordant” in the world of natural dyeing. Mordants are usually tannin or alum-based. Since avocado has naturally-occurring tannins, you don’t need to use a mordant when making natural dye with avocado skin and peels. So simple!
Reducing food waste at home. Beautiful natural dye. Learn how to transform fruit and veggie scraps into a rainbow of natural dye.
You’re familiar with plant-based diets. But what about plant-based dyes? There are all sorts of plants and food scraps that can produce natural dyes for fabric, including the incredible avocado. Beloved as a delicious, creamy, and nutrient-dense plant-based food, one of its lesser-known powers is this: you can use the pit and peel as a natural dye for fabric!
Surprisingly, avocado pits and peels don’t result in a 1970s-kitchen-appliance-green natural dye, nor do they create a drab brown hue. Nope. They produce a natural dye that’s a lovely dusty shade of pink! What a beautiful way to repurpose kitchen scraps and keep them out of the landfill. Reducing food waste never looked so pretty.
Reducing Food Waste at Home
As we discuss in this post, food waste is a big problem. We’re tackling it here at Thistle, but households also have a role to play in fighting the problem. The basics of household food waste reduction include meal planning, eating leftovers, and composting.
But what’s natural dye got to do with reducing food waste at home? What’s the connection? In the case of avocado, think about how much of the fruit you actually don’t eat. The inedible peel and pit make up a large amount! When you transform the peel pit into a beautiful natural dye, you send less food waste to the landfill.
What about compost? Yes, composting is great, but when it comes to avocados, it takes up to six months for the pit and peel to decompose into nutrients the soil can readily absorb! That’s a lot slower than most other kitchen scraps, especially for DIY compost. Meanwhile, pits and peels that are simmered to make natural dye break down much faster. More beautiful DIY style for you. More nourishment reaching the earth at a faster pace. Everybody wins!
How to Make Natural Dye with Avocado
Avocado, how we love thee. Let’s count the ways.
Avocado’s almost-black peels and earthy-hued pits do something magical when you simmer them in water, the first step in creating the natural dye. They tint the water pink! The peels create a dusty rose while the pits impart a pale pink hue.
Avocado Peel and Pit Natural Dye Recipe
- Save all avocado peels and pits until you have around 6 full avocado skins
- Peel the skins into pieces and place these and the pits in 4-5 cups of water
- Put water in a pot on the stove and make sure water is simmering not boiling
- Keep the water on simmer for around 3-4 hours (checking in occasionally)
- Remove dyed water from pot and place in clear glass bowl (so doesn’t dye anything)
- Place white item in dye and let it soak overnight
- Remove item from dye and let it dry out
- Rinse item under water to remove any excess dye or avocado remnants
- Ta-daa you have a new pinkly shaded item!
What to do with all of that perfectly pink avocado dye? Here are some of our favorite textiles to dye with this prettiest of natural dyes.
- Silk and cotton scarves
- Natural canvas and cotton totes
- Canvas sneakers
- Linen or cotton cloth napkins
- Natural fiber curtains and shower curtains
- 100% cotton or linen pillowcases
Go forth and create! Repurpose household food waste into beautiful natural dye. Start with avocados. Next time you make some guacamole, don’t trash or compost the scraps. Instead, freeze the peels and pit to create natural dye. And don’t stop there; experiment with all sorts of plant scraps to make an assortment of natural dyes.
Natural Dyes from Food Waste: Avocado and Beyond
It takes only a few how-to guides and a little imagination to transform food waste into natural dye for fabric. Besides avocado pits and peels, here’s a few other food scraps you can use to create a rainbow of natural dye for fabric:
Red:
- Beet peels
- Cherries
Raspberries
Orange:
- Paprika
- Red onion skins
Yellow:
- Lemon peels
- Pomegranate peels
- Turmeric
- Yellow onion skins
Green:
- Artichokes
- Fresh herbs
- Spinach
Blue:
- Blueberries
Purple:
- Blackberries
- Red cabbage leaves
To make a natural dye solution, boil food scraps in a pot of water for up to a day; the longer you boil them, the brighter the dye. Likewise for the length of time you soak fabric in the dye: the longer the soak, the brighter the final result. Speaking of fabrics, choose only 100% natural fibers like cotton, linen, wool, and silk. Natural dye won’t “stick” to synthetic fabrics.
To prevent fading, some of the above natural dye ingredients require a fixative, often called “mordant” in the world of natural dyeing. Mordants are usually tannin or alum-based. Since avocado has naturally-occurring tannins, you don’t need to use a mordant when making natural dye with avocado skin and peels. So simple!
