… contains 19-22% of carminic acid. When dried, the body of the bug is 30% of its live body weight.
The insects are brushed off the pear cactus plant into baskets, and killed by either exposure to sunlight, heat of an oven, steam, or by putting them in boiling water.
The body is then dried and pulverized, then dunked in acidic alcohol solution which yields carminic acid which is a pigment.
Depending on the process, it typically takes about 70,000 female insects to make 1 pound of dye.
(Featured and below: cochineals after drying)
