Photos from open sources
On our site you can find information that civilized The West is increasingly insistently moving on to food from insects, in in particular, from cockroaches, grasshoppers, larvae from butterflies, various bugs and so on.
In addition, we note that in the East, some people have long been feed on insects. And this is entirely justified: firstly, such the diet is commensurate in its nutritional value, and even significantly superior to traditional meat. Secondly, it is very cheap and affordable product (compared with beef, pork and others). Thirdly, such food practically does not harm human the body.
Each of us uses cochineal little bugs.
Brr, absolutely most people frown, eat insects – what an abomination! However, humanity, it turns out, from time immemorial consumes insects for food, albeit in small quantities. More Moreover, it is safe to say that you, our dear reader, certainly eat them too.
The fact is that the most famous natural dye red carmine that has been used for many centuries and is still used in the production of many food products, especially culinary, are made from small bugs – cochineal. It is they, when ground, that give red (shades can be very different depending on the production and, probably, of the original product) color.
Moreover, this natural dye is very high quality, since doesn’t lose its bright colors under any conditions, whether high or too low temperatures, some kind of chemical reagents, sunlight, or something else. No wonder that in all foreseeable times carmine was widely used, and people practically without exception, everyone ate it, that is, ate (albeit in small quantities) ground cochineal bugs.
A photo from open sources
By the way, these bugs are most common in Latin America, and Peru is a state that exports carmine to the most large quantities, moreover, all over the world.
Natural dye carmine is used in the manufacture of ice cream, pies, muffins, soft drinks, sausages, artificial caviar (for example, alginic) and many other products nutrition (by the way, carmine is widely used and how excellent the dye is not for food, but just as part of this articles we will not particularly touch on this topic). Of course, today there are many artificial dyes that are easy to color replace cochineal, moreover, compared with carmine cheaper. However, they have a serious drawback – harmful to the human body. Other natural dyes of red colors made, for example, based on beets or berry extract do not maintain competition with carmine in shade resistance, losing it when exposed to a particular treatment and even exposure the environment.
From the history of the use of cochineal insects
Note that cochineal was also used as a dye by Maya, the history of the appearance and spread of carmine in the world in detail and very interestingly tells, for example, a researcher, author of a book “Perfectly Red” by Amy Butler Greenfield. If desired, this work can find on the Internet and get acquainted with such a remarkable topic research in more detail.
It is worth clarifying that everyone who is categorically against eating any insects (or even any animals – vegetarians) can always avoid eating cochineal bugs because on foods power should be an indication that the dye E120 was used – this is carmine according to its European standard designations.
A photo from open sources
And finally, let’s say that for production, for example, 50 grams carmine is used by more than 7 thousand cochineal bugs. They just very small, but terribly prolific and almost indestructible. Recently, however, carmine is increasingly being replaced by artificial dyes, say, in this regard, the most popular sunset “- E110. Such dyes are also persistent and practically harmless (E110 is recommended in many European countries even for baby food). Their main advantage over carmine is significantly lower price, which is why manufacturers are increasingly refuse natural cochineal. But in vain – more durable, useful and even energetically valuable red food coloring than carmine, nothing yet invented …
Peru insects
