Real Deal Cochineal

Photo by Thomas Schmied

Photo from steve at http://tolweb.org/treehouses

I suffer for my art.  These cocoon-like white sacks found on prickly pear are made by little bugs called cochineal.  When you squish them, they release a bright, carmine red juice which has been used as a natural dye by Native Americans in the Western Hemisphere for centuries, and is still used today as an organic red dye.  When I went to take a picture, I tried to avoid the glochids (I wasn't too keen on squishing these little bugs anyway) and ended up with about a hundred hairy spines in my fingers, too small for my aging eyes to even detect.  So, I resorted to a web photo.  Readers are lucky that I typed any i's, commas or k's in this blog. You know the finger I am holding up!!