carrot top color
One of the reasons I wrote a book about natural dyeing with food waste is because food discard are some of the only dye material that is accessible to almost everyone. The first step to starting your journey into sustainable slow textiles is for it not to be an exclusive club, where tons of supplies are needed to even get going. So before your food scraps head to the compost bin - add one extra step to prolong the life of your produce. Below is my recipe for obtaining lemony green hues with Carrot Tops! If you don’t want to use your carrot tops for natural dyeing… Bon Appetit has a recipe for Carrot Top Pesto too.
What You’ll Need:
Carrot tops
2 large stainless steel pots
Wooden spoon
Mesh strainer
Pre-scoured & pre-mordanted fabric you wish to dye
Kitchen thermometer
Fiber Recommendation --- Both cellulose or protein but protein fibers are more vibrant
Food to Fiber Ratio --- 4 to 1
Directions:
Root vegetables need to be properly washed and rinsed before dyeing with them. They grow in the earth therefore a more likely to collect soil and critters.
After rinsing your carrot tops and leaves, place them in a large stainless steel pot and fill it with warm water.
Place the pot on a stovetop burner. With the burner on medium-low heat, slowly bring the temperature up to a boil, then lower the heat to allow the dye bath simmer. Steam should be rising from the pot but the water should not boiling any longer. Hold the simmer for 1-2 hours to extract the most color from the carrot tops.
Every so often, rotate and stir the dye bath with a wooden spoon to make sure the carrot leaves are not burning to the sides of the pot.
After 1-2 hours has passed, strain the carrot tops from the dye bath using your mesh strainer and second pot.
Place second pot on the stovetop.
Submerge your pre-scoured and mordanted fabric into the dye bath.
With your stove top burner on medium-low heat, bring the dye bath up to 180 degrees and let it simmer for 90 minutes.
Turn off the heat, and let your fiber cool in the dye bath overnight.
Rinse the fabric in cool water and then hang it to dry out of direct sunlight.
