Why Is Carmine, a Dye Made from Bugs, So Popular?

Carmine is a vibrant, long-lasting red dye that's extracted from crushed cochineal insects. Learn about the intriguing history and modern use of carmine in this episode of BrainStuff.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio, Hey
brain Stuff, Lauren Bogel Bomb Here, red velvet cake and
strawberry ice cream aren't only alike in that they'll satisfy
your sweet tooth, they likely share a common ingredient made
from a not so common source that gives them their
red to pink Q. That's carmen, a natural red dye

(00:23):
also labeled as Cochineal Extract E one twenty or Natural
Red Dye four, and it owes its beauty to a
teeny tiny bug, the female cotton neal bug. To be precise,
In addition to its possible gross out factor, this tasteless
f d A approved extract has a history full of
interest and intrigue. Betsy Ross even used this bright red

(00:46):
dye to make the red stripes on the very first
American flag. The cotch neal is a slate bug that
feeds on prickly pear plants grown throughout Mexico, South America,
the southwestern United States, and the Canary Islands off the
coast of Spain. The male cotch neil plays its own
unique role in nature, but it's the wingless, legless female

(01:06):
that interests dye makers If you go looking for her,
you won't find her vibrant red bounty on display. The
female cotch neil's gray exterior is covered in a white
powder that protects her from predators as well as the
scorching sun, and since the juice from the cacti is
her only source of nutrition, she burrows in and is
understandably a bit stubborn about releasing her hold. In order

(01:29):
to harvest the cotch neil, the prickly pear pads are
cut and brought to factories so that the bugs can
be pulled out and processed, but it takes some serious
people power. Approximately seventy thousand cotch neals are needed to
create just one pound of dye that's a little less
than half a kilo. Once the harvested bugs are dried,
ground and mixed with an alcohol solution or other compounds

(01:52):
like borax, they give way to a vibrant, long lasting
dye that can be used to make colors from scarlet
to purple to pink to peach. Dyes have been used
to color everything from textiles to pottery since the Neolithic
period or New Stone Age, but the majority sourced from vegetables, plants,
and trees. But bugs have had their place too, and

(02:12):
not only the cocheneal. Another elusive die associated with wealth
and royal status, Tyrian purple, was made from the glands
of snails. The cocheneal bug is native to Mesoamerica. The
Aztecs are believed to be the first to use Carmen
to fill their lives with stunning shades of crimson. When
the Spanish colonizers arrived in the Americas, they learned about

(02:32):
Carmen and built enormous wealth by monopolizing the cocheneal market.
Spain kept the source of the color a secret, and
even made export of the die illegal, punishable by death.
Coveted by the wealthy, the royal families, and the artists
across Europe, this die created fertile ground for contention. Those
cumbersome and secretive production methods certainly made Carmen expensive, but

(02:55):
the color itself was an explosive part of Carmen's mystery
and popularity. We spoke with Amy Butler Greenfield, author of
The Perfect Red, via email. She said, red is the
color of blood, fired, death, and desire, and we can't
help but respond to it on many levels. It makes
our eyes dilate and our breath come faster, and it's

(03:16):
freighted with symbolic meaning. Also, there are very few natural
dyes that make a lasting, bright, true red, so good
ones had the value of rarity ounce for ounce. Coccinial
is the most powerful natural red dye in the world.
That's why it was prized. When industrialization arrived in the
mid eighteen hundreds, the demand for textiles increased dramatically and

(03:39):
created a need for more cost effective dyes. Chemists began
to use petroleum and coal to formulate synthetic ones, ultimately
reducing the need for the cotchinial bug. The shift towards
synthetics may have pushed carmen too the background, but it
didn't disappear, and now it's making a comeback, showing up
on ingredient lists for anything from cake pops to lipstick.

(04:01):
Greenfield said. When reports started linking synthetic reds to cancer
and hyperactivity, and as people started taking an interest in
natural foods in general, the market for cotchin neal began
to rebound. So if carmen is a natural product without
the negative long term effects, why did the coffee giant Starbucks,
along with numerous other companies stop using it to add

(04:22):
color to their products. While carmen is safe for the
majority of people, it can cause an allergic reaction, and
besides that safety concern, folks like vegetarians, vegans, and people
who keep kosher helped advocate for the change. But no
matter whether you find eating a bug appalling, fascinating, or dangerous.
For such a tiny insect, the cochineal bug has certainly

(04:45):
left a vivid mark on culture, beating our attraction to
the beauty and power of red. Today's episode was written
by Katie Carmen and produced by Tyler Clang. For more
on this and lots of other topics, visit how stuff
works dot com. Brain Stuff is production of my heart Radio.
For more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the i

(05:06):
heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
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