cochineal

Everyday

1. A deep red dye made from tiny scale insects that live on prickly pear cacti, used to colour food, drinks, make-up and cloth. tree →
2. The insect itself. tree →

In the lessons

In history lessons cochineal was prized by the Aztecs and later shipped to Europe by the Spanish; it coloured British soldiers' red coats. In science and food labels, cochineal (carmine, E120) shows that natural colours can come from animals, so it is not vegetarian.

Examples

• Cochineal makes a bright red colour. tree →
• The pink icing was coloured with cochineal. tree →
• Cochineal comes from tiny insects that live on cacti. tree →
• The Aztecs used cochineal to dye cloth. tree →
• Vegetarians check labels for cochineal. tree →
• It takes thousands of insects to make a little cochineal. tree →

Note

Say «koch-ih-NEEL». Uncountable as a dye. Also called carmine or E120.