The cochineal (/ ˌkɒtʃɪˈniːl, ˈkɒtʃɪniːl / KOTCH-in-EEL, -eel, US also / ˌkoʊtʃɪˈniːl, ˈkoʊtʃɪniːl / KOH-chin-; [1] Dactylopius coccus) is a scale insect in the suborder Sternorrhyncha, from which the natural dye carmine is derived. A primarily sessile parasite native to tropical and subtropical South America through North America (Mexico and the Southwest United. The story of the cochineal insect is used to create the color red including history, natural dyeing techniques and traditions throughout the Americas.
At maturity, it produces a white, cottony covering as camouflage to hide from predators. Clusters can be found in abundance on the wide, flat "paddles" or "pads" of the nopal, the fruit-bearing prickly pear cactus. In addition to their downy coats, the female cochineal produces a chemical called carminic acid, which is the source of the color used to make a red dye.
Cochineal, a tiny, cactus-dwelling insect that produces a vibrant red pigment, was harvested for thousands of years by Indigenous peoples to produce a dye for their own textiles. Following the Spanish invasion of the Americas, cochineal ultimately became a globally traded commodity. In Europe, its red became the color of power, tinting the red coats of English soldiers and the Catholic clergy.
Cochineal is a red dye consisting of dried female cochineal scale insects that feed on the nopal cactus, or prickly pear cacti, sucking moisture and nutrients from the flat prickly paddles. Alright, let's dive into something you probably didn't see coming: red dye made from bugs! Yes, you heard that right. For centuries, people have been using cochineal bugs, tiny critters that chill on prickly pear cactuses, to create this stunning red dye known as carmine.
Now, before you go "ew, bugs in my food?", hear me out because this is pretty fascinating. This surprising use of. The vivid red fluid is called cochineal red dye.
Rebecca, one of our intrepid bug aficionados, plucked a large cochineal insect from an Opuntia cactus and gave it a squeeze. The hapless bug delivered a droplet of brilliant red body fluid as it burst between her fingers. The Cochineal Cactus Plant, or Opuntia, offers more than its rugged desert beauty.
Surprisingly, it serves as the source of a vibrant red dye, thanks to the tiny cochineal insects inhabiting it. These insects, often confused with red dye beetles, belong to the scale insect family and produce carminic acid, the core ingredient for cochineal dye. Centuries before the now-banned red dye No.
3 was synthesized in a lab, humans turned to insects to color their foods, fabrics and artwork. Red - the colour of cactus blood! The 'Cochineal Treatise', housed in the British Museum, is evidence for the great importance placed on the production and trade in cochineal during Spanish colonial rule. The twelve scenes it contains show the different stages in cochineal cultivation during the year.
Published around 1599, the Treatise formed part of a wider report on the lives of the.