For decades, Campari was the most famous spirit to use crushed cochineals for coloring.
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The pink color would come from cochineals, a little bug commonly used in food dye.
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This is not some weird new craft-distilling trend: Cochineals (KAHCH-i-neels), native to the Americas, have been used for centuries to lend color to everything from fabric to cosmetics to food.
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Yet back in 2012, when Starbucks was discovered to be using a natural food coloring derived from crushed cochineals to dye its strawberry Frappuccinos red, there was an outcry, and the company switched to tomato-based lycopene.
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In general, cochineals are waxy gray insects, but the adult females turn bright red when crushed,Family:Dactylopiidae. Scale Insects. Systematic Entomology Laboratory, USDA, ARS. due to their carminic acid content.
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At times it is a question of conscience, especially if you know that a single ladybird alone can during its development theoretically eat more than 3000 cochineals or plant louses.
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These insects are known commonly as cochineals,Ramírez-Puebla, S. T., et al. (2010). Molecular phylogeny of the genus Dactylopius (Hemiptera: Dactylopiidae) and identification of the symbiotic bacteria. Environmental Entomology 39(4), 1178-83.
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The juveniles move to a feeding spot and produce long wax filaments. Later they move to the edge of the cactus pad where the wind catches the wax filaments and carries the tiny larval cochineals to a new host.
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After Spanish colonization of the Americas began, cochineals were shipped worldwide as a commercial product. The dried bodies of the female insects are roughly 12 to 16% carminic acid.Reyes-Salas, O., et al. (2011). Titrimetric and polarographic determination of carminic acid and its quantification in cochineal (Dactylopius coccus) extracts.
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Cochineals live on cactus plants, especially prickly pears (Opuntia spp.), as well as Cylindropuntia and Grusonia species. One species was collected from Corynopuntia schottii. They gather in large clumps mainly in shady, sheltered areas on the cactus pads and feed on the sap. Some species also infest the cactus fruits, flowers, stems, and roots; they are often found on the roots during times of the year when they are less active.
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Cochineals were of value to the pre-Columbian societies of the Andes region. Rulers of the Inca Empire stored supplies of the insects as a commodity, as they were the only source of red dye for clothing and other textiles.Roquero, A. Identification of red dyes in textiles from the Andean Region. Paper 129 In: Proceedings, Textile Society of America 11th Biennial Symposium, Lincoln, Nebraska, October 6–9, 2010.
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Captive subadult specimen The main natural sources of food of P. terribilis are the ants in the genera Brachymyrmex and Paratrechina, but many kinds of insects and other small invertebrates can be eaten, specifically termites and beetles, which can easily be found on the rainforest floor. This frog is considered the most voracious of the dendrobatids. In captivity, the frog is fed with Drosophila fruit flies, cochineals, crickets (Gryllidae), the larvae of various insects, and other small, live, invertebrate foods. An adult frog can eat food items much larger in relation to its size than most other dendrobatids.
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Journal of the Mexican Chemical Society 55(2), 88-93. The carmine obtained is a shade of crimson, and this can be turned different shades by adding metal ions or changing the pH; tin salts or acids produce a bright scarlet, while iron or alkaline compounds turn it a deep purple. The Salasacas of Ecuador still use this process to color their textiles, particularly a red woolen garment worn by women around the shoulders, which each woman personalizes by choosing a different shade of red. They collect cochineals, probably D. confusus, from the wild, press them into cakes, and use the dried cakes to dye the garments three at a time.
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In the early 20th century, cochineals were introduced as a biological control for the plant, which had become a nuisance; they rapidly eradicated most of the cacti. This probably led to famine among the Antandroy people, although some authors challenge the causal link between famine and cactus eradication. Today, several Opuntia species are again present mainly in the south, spreading into native vegetation in some areas. The prickly pear illustrates the dilemma of plant introductions: while many authors see exotic plants as a threat to the native flora, others argue that they have not yet been linked directly to the extinction of a native species, and that some may actually provide economic or ecological benefits.
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