Meet the Bug You Didn't Know You Were Eating

The cochineal is a tiny insect deeply rooted in the history of Oaxaca, Mexico. Female cochineals spend most of their lives with their heads buried in juicy cactus pads, eating and growing. After cochineals die, their legacy lives on in the brilliant red hue produced by their hemolymph. Dyes made from cochineal have been used in textiles, paintings, and even in your food!

TRANSCRIPT

You’ve seen this brilliant red before. In textiles, world-renowned paintings, even in the red coats once worn by the British army. In fact, you’ve probably even tasted this color. And it all comes from an insect deeply rooted in the history of Oaxaca, Mexico: cochineal.

Instead of blood, most insects and arachnids have hemolymph, which is clear. But the cochineal’s hemolymph is a rich crimson.

Despite the vibrant color they produce, their life isn’t exactly adventurous. They begin as a pinhead-sized nymph, also called a crawler, for obvious reasons.

It wanders around juicy cactus pads looking for a place to dig in. The nymph starts bright red, but within hours of hatching, it’s coated in fluffy white wax.

Filaments of wax ooze out of these pores and grow longer than the nymph’s own body. This coating prevents the insects from drying out in the hot sun.

When a female finds the perfect place to dine, she uses her mouth to hook in and hold on. She’ll stay here for the rest of her life, eating, ballooning in size and making even more wax.

Males, when they’re a few weeks old, encase themselves in cocoons. When they emerge, butt first, they’ve grown wings.

These can help them glide to other nearby cactus pads in search of a mate. But usually a female is just steps away. They get busy.

A few weeks after mating, female cochineals lay their eggs. Within minutes, bright red nymphs hatch, often before the eggs have even dropped!

So what’s responsible for the cochineal’s deep, dark red? Carminic acid, a bitter substance that deters nearly all predators. But not this hungry beetle larva. It gulps down so many cochineals it turns red itself.

No hiding what you had for lunch!

Carminic acid is most concentrated in female cochineals, which live three to four months. To harvest female cochineals, people gently brush them off cacti and dry them in the sun. Indigenous people in Mexico cultivated cochineal long before Spain made it a global commodity. In the 1700s, the insect was as valuable as silver. Not only was its pigment beautiful, it was also fade-resistant.

In Teotitlán del Valle, a Zapotec town outside Oaxaca city, weaver Marina González grinds dried cochineal on a metate. She dissolves the powder into large tubs of boiling water to dye wool. Next, her son Juan Carlos removes the wool, cleans it and dries it. Juan Carlos’ brother Alejandro uses a loom to transform the colored wool into stunning designs. It takes about 5,000 dried cochineals to dye this medium-sized tapestry.

Cochineal shows up in other places too, like your food. Manufacturers often use it as an alternative to artificial dyes. But it may cause allergies, and it is definitely not vegetarian.

The cochineal’s lasting, vibrant color may be the closest the natural world has come to making a perfect red. This insect may only live a few months. But its legacy will live on for generations.

Hey, it’s Laura! In food, cochineal is labeled “carmine,” “cochineal extract,” “E120” or “natural red 4.”
And speaking of red, let’s talk ladybugs! They fly huge distances to gather by the thousands – in a big ole cuddle puddle. Enjoy!