#cochineal #insects are doing great, if anyone is making wool uniforms for British soldiers looking to occupy Boston and needs some red dye, let me know. #redcoats

#cochineal bugs were the main source of red dye back in Colonial times. "The Redcoats Are Coming" were really "guys in coats dyed in cactus bugs" are coming. #cactus #dye https://research.colonialwilliamsburg.org/foundation/journal/summer12/dye.cfm

#Carmine, also called #cochineal, is a pigment of a bright-red color obtained from the aluminium complex derived from carminic acid.

Synthetic carminic acid is complex to produce. Therefore, natural cochineal carmine is predominant on the market.

To prepare carmine, powdered scale insect bodies are boiled in an ammonia or sodium carbonate solution. #Gelatin may be added to modify the precipitation.

To obtain 1 pound of red dye, one needs 70,000 cochineal bugs.

#insects #bugs #pigment #dye #vegan #animalProducts #animalRights #speciesism #wikipedia

It takes more than 4,000 cochineal insects to make 28g (1oz) of cochineal dye.

#science #sciencefacs #cochineal #cochinealdye #cochinealbugs

https://www.livescience.com/36292-red-food-dye-bugs-cochineal-carmine.html

https://shepherdtextiles.com/guides/cochineal-extract

New episode — “A Bug of Another Color”: We investigate the most fantastic bugs of all, #kermes and #cochineal. These little creatures not only gave us many of our words for red but also famous symbols from British redcoats to the U.S. flag. https://apple.co/3mBRhZi Join the conversation or subscribe at realfantasticbeasts.com #animalstudies #crimson

https://lateboomersden.blog/2023/03/30/eaten-any-cochineal-bugs-recently/
Sometimes "natural" means made out of bugs (better that than some petroleum product) 🙂
#cactus, #carmine, #Cochineal, #dye, #insects, #Mexico, #PricklyPear

"...the grocery store can yield a cartful of colorful foods. Bright among the rainbow are the reds [in] products such as raspberry jam, canned cherries, strawberry licorice..." "Often, their source is a certain small insect."
"...many food products are deemed safe and approved for sale even if they contain small amounts of whole or fragmented insects."
"...Peru is the largest commercial producer of the D. coccus #cochineal insect..."

Smithsonian Magazine (29 Mar 2022)
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/scientists-are-making-cochineal-a-red-dye-from-bugs-in-the-lab-180979828/

https://youtu.be/iBNySB2jpVg
A while back I posted a picture of a cactus with #cochineal bugs on it. This is an interesting video about traditional cochineal production in #Mexico. Kinda be a shame if it dies out. #cactus, #agriculture

https://www.businessinsider.com/cochineal-red-food-dye-industry-2023-1

“The most powerful, brilliant red dye in existence.”

This is a fascinating topic. I had no idea this type of #farming was in danger of dying out. It seems so counterproductive to industry. #cochineal #bugs #red #dye

Here a “tunera” (#pricklypearcactus in Spanish of the #CanaryIslands) from #BoxingDay’s #Walk in #tilosdemoya. I took this picture to show my husband the #cochineal parasitising the pads of the cactus. Once an important part of the #CanarianEconomy, cochineal was collected to extract the red dye #carmine which is used in cosmetics, drugs or foods. It is for example used to colour the #Cubanitos, a biscuit produced in Gran Canaria by Galletas Bandama https://www.galletasbandama.com/productos/cubanitos/ #history