By Staff Writer Jerri Clewis
Lining the shelves of groceries stores are products in all the colors of the rainbow, but none may be more striking than the reds of sodas, jams, yogurts, ice creams, and candies. The vibrant color can appear synthetic, but in many cases, it’s perfectly natural—thanks to a little bug with a love of cacti.
Cochineals are insects about 0.2 inches in length that depend on prickly pear cacti for all their nutrition. The female insects carry carminic acid inside their bodies, which acts as a repellent against predators but is also what makes the insect so important. The carminic acid creates a vivid red dye called cochineal extract when the insects and their eggs are dried and crushed. The extract can be further enhanced to create a purified dye called carmine.
Indigenous peoples in the Americas discovered the use of cochineal’s carminic acid and began cultivating the insect to produce dyes for various uses, Insider Business reported. After the Spaniards arrived, they began shipping the dye to Europe after discovering how easily it fixed to fabric and left a bolder red color that was more resistant to fading compared to any other product on the market.
Cochineal dye became one of Spain’s biggest and most expensive exports, and the country tried to hide the secret behind the color, which worked for nearly 200 years. Many people in Europe believed the dye originated in a seed or an animal product, according to the University of Houston. The secret broke when Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, inventor of the first microscope, discovered the truth in 1687.
The dye rapidly spread throughout the world as new countries began to raise cochineals and supply increased. The radiant color dyed the coats of kings and even the robes of the Catholic Church, and soon the color became a symbol of power. The dye appeared in artwork by famous artists like Van Gogh and Rembrandt. Home cooks found a way to use it to color sweet treats, and cosmetics used it in various products.
Cochineals began to fall out of popularity in the mid-1800s after the invention of synthetic dyes, which were cheaper and available in larger amounts. Things shifted again when Red No. 2, a synthetic dye created from petroleum, was banned in 1976 under the suspicion of potentially causing cancer. Cochineal extract and carmine returned as popular options for safe and natural dye, but there have been problems meeting the renewed demand after the rise of synthetic dyes forced many cochineal farmers to abandon the trade.
Animal-rights activists and vegetarians have also slowed the use of cochineals, and studies are underway to find an alternative option. Scientists recently discovered microbes could be engineered to make carminic acid and other dyes, but the process is nowhere ready for large-scale manufacturing, according to a 2018 study by J. N. Frandsen and his team. Until the process proves more effective, cochineals will continue to be an alternative to synthetic dyes.