Cochineal

Green Side Up

As badly maligned as the prickly pear cactus (Opuntia) is, there are benefits available from this under-appreciated plant. There is archeological evidence that these cacti have been used by humans for more than 9,000 years and have been cultivated since about 1,000 BC. The Native Americans of North, Central and South America have highly prized these plants not only for their use as a food source but also for less obvious benefits.

The cochineal is a parasitic insect that infests prickly pears. The females of this scale insect (often misidentified as a beetle) attach themselves to the cactus pad with their beak-like mouth parts and suck out moisture and nutrients. It is not surprising to learn that they are cousins to the dreaded aphid. These females have no wings and only minimal legs. They have been described as sacks of guts and eggs. The males are winged and thus mobile, but this advantage is short lived. They feed until they reach sexual maturity then stop eating, mate and die. Cochineals are covered with a waxy or powdery white coating. When they cluster on the pads of prickly pears, they look like small cotton balls stuck to the plant. Anyone living in west Texas is probably familiar with these deceiving white patches. Under the cottony covering are small (0.2 inch) insects that appear purple and produces a dark red color when crushed.

Cochineals provide the pigment found in a red dye used by the Aztecs, Maya and other Mexican Indians for centuries before the arrival of the Spanish in the New World. These indigenous peoples would collect the insects and briefly immerse them in hot water to kill them and to remove their waxy coating. After drying them in the sun, the insects would be ground into a fine powder. The colored compound is carminic acid and makes up 17 to 24 percent of the insect’s dry weight. It was used to dye fabrics and could yield colors from pink and orange to dark crimson. Even before the arrival of Europeans, the cochineals were considered valuable. It is reported that eleven cities conquered by Montezuma in the fifteenth century paid a yearly tribute of 2,000 blankets and 40 bags of cochineal dye each. The Spaniards saw the economic potential of the dye, and it became one of the first exports from the New World.

The dye was found to be very resistant to degradation over time. It is one of the most light and heat stable and oxidation resistant of all the natural organic colorants and is reported to be more stable than many synthetic food colors. These qualities made it especially attractive to cloth merchants in Europe. Cochineal dye was used to color fabric for royal clothing, Cardinal’s robes and the English army’s “Red coats.”

With the development of synthetic dyes, the farming of prickly pears for the production of cochineal dye decreased. Now health fears over artificial food additives have renewed the popularity of using cochineals as a source of dye has and has made its cultivation profitable again. Today the cochineal is used in a variety of non-fabric applications including cosmetic dyes and as a natural food coloring including colors for pharmaceuticals. The U.S. government has verified cochineal to be safe for consumption and even for cosmetic use in the eye area. For those folks who are averse to ingesting insects, even in a purified form, careful reading of product labels is recommended. The presence of carmine (the purified form of the cochineal) may offend those of the strict vegetarian or vegan persuasion or those with dietary restrictions due to religious beliefs. A very small number of individuals exhibit allergies to the cochineal dyes. The cochineal coloring ingredient may be identified on labels as cochineal extract, carmine, crimson lake, natural red 4, CI 76470, E 1020 or simply “natural coloring.” It is worth the effort to check the label on your yogurt, energy drink, jelly or jam, maraschino cherries, fruit and soft drinks, dairy based drinks, candy, syrup, popsicles, ketchup, lipstick, eyeshadow and nail polish. As for me, I would rather ingest a time-honored natural dye than an artificial food coloring derived from petroleum that has been proven to be carcinogenic and causes behavioral problems and is increasingly being banned.