Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio, Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren Bogel Bomb Here, red velvet cake and
Speaker 1: strawberry ice cream aren't only alike in that they'll satisfy
Speaker 1: your sweet tooth, they likely share a common ingredient made
Speaker 1: from a not so common source that gives them their
Speaker 1: red to pink Q. That's carmen, a natural red dye
Speaker 1: also labeled as Cochineal Extract E one twenty or Natural
Speaker 1: Red Dye four, and it owes its beauty to a
Speaker 1: teeny tiny bug, the female cotton neal bug. To be precise,
Speaker 1: In addition to its possible gross out factor, this tasteless
Speaker 1: f d A approved extract has a history full of
Speaker 1: interest and intrigue. Betsy Ross even used this bright red
Speaker 1: dye to make the red stripes on the very first
Speaker 1: American flag. The cotch neal is a slate bug that
Speaker 1: feeds on prickly pear plants grown throughout Mexico, South America,
Speaker 1: the southwestern United States, and the Canary Islands off the
Speaker 1: coast of Spain. The male cotch neil plays its own
Speaker 1: unique role in nature, but it's the wingless, legless female
Speaker 1: that interests dye makers If you go looking for her,
Speaker 1: you won't find her vibrant red bounty on display. The
Speaker 1: female cotch neil's gray exterior is covered in a white
Speaker 1: powder that protects her from predators as well as the
Speaker 1: scorching sun, and since the juice from the cacti is
Speaker 1: her only source of nutrition, she burrows in and is
Speaker 1: understandably a bit stubborn about releasing her hold. In order
Speaker 1: to harvest the cotch neil, the prickly pear pads are
Speaker 1: cut and brought to factories so that the bugs can
Speaker 1: be pulled out and processed, but it takes some serious
Speaker 1: people power. Approximately seventy thousand cotch neals are needed to
Speaker 1: create just one pound of dye that's a little less
Speaker 1: than half a kilo. Once the harvested bugs are dried,
Speaker 1: ground and mixed with an alcohol solution or other compounds
Speaker 1: like borax, they give way to a vibrant, long lasting
Speaker 1: dye that can be used to make colors from scarlet
Speaker 1: to purple to pink to peach. Dyes have been used
Speaker 1: to color everything from textiles to pottery since the Neolithic
Speaker 1: period or New Stone Age, but the majority sourced from vegetables, plants,
Speaker 1: and trees. But bugs have had their place too, and
Speaker 1: not only the cocheneal. Another elusive die associated with wealth
Speaker 1: and royal status, Tyrian purple, was made from the glands
Speaker 1: of snails. The cocheneal bug is native to Mesoamerica. The
Speaker 1: Aztecs are believed to be the first to use Carmen
Speaker 1: to fill their lives with stunning shades of crimson. When
Speaker 1: the Spanish colonizers arrived in the Americas, they learned about
Speaker 1: Carmen and built enormous wealth by monopolizing the cocheneal market.
Speaker 1: Spain kept the source of the color a secret, and
Speaker 1: even made export of the die illegal, punishable by death.
Speaker 1: Coveted by the wealthy, the royal families, and the artists
Speaker 1: across Europe, this die created fertile ground for contention. Those
Speaker 1: cumbersome and secretive production methods certainly made Carmen expensive, but
Speaker 1: the color itself was an explosive part of Carmen's mystery
Speaker 1: and popularity. We spoke with Amy Butler Greenfield, author of
Speaker 1: The Perfect Red, via email. She said, red is the
Speaker 1: color of blood, fired, death, and desire, and we can't
Speaker 1: help but respond to it on many levels. It makes
Speaker 1: our eyes dilate and our breath come faster, and it's
Speaker 1: freighted with symbolic meaning. Also, there are very few natural
Speaker 1: dyes that make a lasting, bright, true red, so good
Speaker 1: ones had the value of rarity ounce for ounce. Coccinial
Speaker 1: is the most powerful natural red dye in the world.
Speaker 1: That's why it was prized. When industrialization arrived in the
Speaker 1: mid eighteen hundreds, the demand for textiles increased dramatically and
Speaker 1: created a need for more cost effective dyes. Chemists began
Speaker 1: to use petroleum and coal to formulate synthetic ones, ultimately
Speaker 1: reducing the need for the cotchinial bug. The shift towards
Speaker 1: synthetics may have pushed carmen too the background, but it
Speaker 1: didn't disappear, and now it's making a comeback, showing up
Speaker 1: on ingredient lists for anything from cake pops to lipstick.
Speaker 1: Greenfield said. When reports started linking synthetic reds to cancer
Speaker 1: and hyperactivity, and as people started taking an interest in
Speaker 1: natural foods in general, the market for cotchin neal began
Speaker 1: to rebound. So if carmen is a natural product without
Speaker 1: the negative long term effects, why did the coffee giant Starbucks,
Speaker 1: along with numerous other companies stop using it to add
Speaker 1: color to their products. While carmen is safe for the
Speaker 1: majority of people, it can cause an allergic reaction, and
Speaker 1: besides that safety concern, folks like vegetarians, vegans, and people
Speaker 1: who keep kosher helped advocate for the change. But no
Speaker 1: matter whether you find eating a bug appalling, fascinating, or dangerous.
Speaker 1: For such a tiny insect, the cochineal bug has certainly
Speaker 1: left a vivid mark on culture, beating our attraction to
Speaker 1: the beauty and power of red. Today's episode was written
Speaker 1: by Katie Carmen and produced by Tyler Clang. For more
Speaker 1: on this and lots of other topics, visit how stuff
Speaker 1: works dot com. Brain Stuff is production of my heart Radio.
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