Cochineal anyone?

[boatme99]

You gotta get you some of this!

Actually, you've probably already had yours for the day.

What is cochineal? Carmine, or natural red #4.
Food dye.

It's produced from the cochineal bug, a scale insect found in Central America.

Food uses include yougurt, juices, candy, and sauces.
Mostly "ruby" colored things.

Also used in make up and lip stick, to get that deep red look.

It's use through history has been textile, some foods, and oil paints. You learn about it in art class in high school.

So next time you're feeling good about eating natural and organic, check the label.

If it says cochineal extract, natural red #4, carmine, or lake carmine, you're bugging out.

Hey. It's completely organic and natural dude.

 

[DWalt]

Most processed foods, especially those containing grains, have some detectable content of insect parts. It's usually small but inevitable, and is allowed by the FDA within limits. My wife opened a package of macaroni this week and it had some live weevils in it. She boiled it rather than taking it back to the store, and I imagine that most of the boiled weevils were rinsed away anyway. It really won't hurt anyone, just more protein.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

A few years ago I bought a box of Familia Swiss Muesli.
I put it into a plastic storage box.
A couple of days I Pulled it out of the pantry.
Wow! I had several flying insects inside the plastic box.
They had apparently hatched in the cereal.
Haven't been able to eat any since!

 

[Grip_Maker's_Wife]

A lot of people are allergic to the red dye made from scales so there is a push to use alternatives in food like beet juice which I am seeing a lot more of. Prickly pears have a beautiful color and mild taste so food companies should consider their use too. I make a lovely prickly pear limeade when they are in season and it has a gorgeous festive color.

I once purchased a box of granola that had moths in it as well. Ick! Eh, not really a cereal person anyway. Eggs are better and from the amount of threads on the subject of eggs, I think most people agree.

 

[DWalt]

A lot of people are allergic to the red dye made from scales so there is a push to use alternatives in food like beet juice which I am seeing a lot more of. Prickly pears have a beautiful color and mild taste so food companies should consider their use too. I make a lovely prickly pear limeade when they are in season and it has a gorgeous festive color.

The reddish fruit of the prickly pear cactus is called a Tuna. We have them everywhere around our house. They make a pretty good jelly. You must be careful with them because they have tiny stickers (called glochids). My wife used to pick them with tongs, then I'd burn off the glochids with a propane torch. She hasn't made prickly pear jelly for many years. It's much easier to just buy jelly.

 

[arjay]

Think I'll have cheesecake for breakfast [emoji15]

 

[DWalt]

I have often seen insects in bags of dry dog food. I guess the dogs don't care.

 

[LostintheOzone]

Think I'll have cheesecake for breakfast [emoji15]

Or pizza. That's pretty safe.

 

[Erich]

There was a fantastic exhibit at the Santa Fe Museum of Folk Art last year about its use in art:

Better red: the centuries-old appeal of cochineal - : Museum Shows

 

[Grip_Maker's_Wife]

The reddish fruit of the prickly pear cactus is called a Tuna. We have them everywhere around our house. They make a pretty good jelly. You must be careful with them because they have tiny stickers (called glochids). My wife used to pick them with tongs, then I'd burn off the glochids with a propane torch. She hasn't made prickly pear jelly for many years. It's much easier to just buy jelly.

We had a few of those cactus growing in a side yard in an small apartment complex I lived at many years ago. That was when I first started using them because there was so much fruit it seemed sad to see them go to waste. They had prickly pear margaritas at a local restaurant, so I figured why not try. I didn't realize how bad those tiny hair like spines could be! They get embedded in your fingers and don't want to come out. I used gloves but they were not adequate. Now I use a fork and knife and don't even bother touching, but I really like your torching method. That sounds like more fun too!

They sell them in season at the Mexican grocery stores here. I have not seen them called Tuna, but I can see why they would call them that.

 

[Erich]

I spend a lot of time each year juicing tunas for Gina's prickly pear margaritas. I'm getting pretty good at shaving off the hairs. The large Engelman prickly pears are the way to go, by the way.

 

[DWalt]

The glochids have little fish hook-type barbs on them, that's why they are difficult to remove. Using a torch is the way to remove the annoyance - takes just a few seconds per tuna, a few passes through the flame. No idea what type of prickly pear plants we have. But left unchecked, they can grow very large. Lots of ranchers torch them with a burner to remove the thorns so cattle can eat them. Where I am, not much grows for cattle feed except cactus.

 

[Erich]

I tried using the flame from the gas stove, but didn't find it worked sufficiently well. Don't want to roast them . . .

 

[soFlaNative]

Quite the font of fascinating, yet completely useless info on this forum!

 

[chaparrito]

Hem hem, the word "tuna" is a Spanish *******ization of an indigenous word for the fruit. It has nothing to do with fish.

 

[chaparrito]

Seriously? You can't say *******ization here??

 

[arjay]

Nope,can't say ******* file either

 

[bgrafsr]

Most processed foods, especially those containing grains, have some detectable content of insect parts. It's usually small but inevitable, and is allowed by the FDA within limits. My wife opened a package of macaroni this week and it had some live weevils in it. She boiled it rather than taking it back to the store, and I imagine that most of the boiled weevils were rinsed away anyway. It really won't hurt anyone, just more protein.

When I was stationed at Clark Air Base, Philippines, I noticed small black specs in the bread. Learned that the bread was made on base and the black specs were tiny bugs in the flour. Learned to ignore them as they were "cleaned" when the bread was baked. Was told it just added protein to the diet.

 

[JayFramer]

If it is safe (which it is), who cares? Better than some nasty artificial chemical. Hell, I like to eat bugs. I've had french fried crickets with a nacho cheese seasoning on them and they were extremely good. Tasted very nutty and crunchy. Don't knock it till you try it.