Cochineal
Grana, coccinella
- Known today as
- The dried insect Dactylopius coccus, a parasite of the prickly-pear cactus of Mexico and South America.
- Kind
- Animal, in 1 older authority
- Constituents
- carminic acid
- Earliest authority here
- New Spain
- In other databases
- GBIF search · Wikidata search
Revised October 3, 2026: Checked against its sources, each read in full, in part, or in its abstract. Version 1, first published September 25, 2026.
Cochineal: what was it used for?
Of good use in medicine, Pomet says, but used far more by the dyers for scarlet, and to colour sugar.
Cochineal: what does modern science say?
The source of carmine red (E120), still used in food and cosmetics.
Pharmacognosy & Toxicology
- Constituents
- Mechanism
- The pigment is harmless to most; the proteins carried over from the insect cause allergy and, rarely, anaphylaxis.
- Toxic dose
- Anaphylaxis and urticaria after foods coloured with carmine are recorded.
- Standing
- A permitted food colour (E120) that must be declared by name on the labels of foods and cosmetics in the United States since January 2011, for the allergic.
- Chung, K., et al. (2001). “Identification of carmine allergens among three carmine allergy patients.” Allergy 56. Abstract read · the text read
The abstract of each source, beneath its citation. For Club members. About the Club or sign in.
Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.
Cochineal: what lore surrounds it?
Its nature puzzled Europe: most, Cartwright writes, took the grains for a worm bred from a rotting berry, and Pomet held them the seed of a plant, until the microscope work of Nicolaas Hartsoeker in 1694 and Antonie van Leeuwenhoek in 1704. Mesoamerican cultivators had long since domesticated it, painting its eggs onto the pads of wild cacti with fox-hair brushes, and the Spanish enlarged the trade on great plantations after the conquest.
Cochineal: what did the older authorities say?
- New Spain
- Cultivated by the Aztecs, it was by the eighteenth century second only to silver among the exports of Spanish America, outshining the old kermes.
Sources
- World History Encyclopedia, on cochineal. Read in full · the text read
- Pomet, P. (1712). A Compleat History of Druggs. London: Bonwicke et al. Read in part · the text read
- Food and Drug Administration (2009). Listing of color additives exempt from certification; food, drug, and cosmetic labeling: cochineal extract and carmine declaration. Final rule. Federal Register 74 (2): 207–217. Read in part · the text read
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 2026, and October 3, 2026
- Passes
- Every sentence read against its sources, in the pass over the remaining 343 entries
- The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
- Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
- Every source read, in full, in part, or in its abstract, and every sentence checked against what was read (October 3, 2026)
- Sources
- 4 cited: 1 read in full, 2 read in part, 1 abstract read. 1 with the abstract on file.
- Corrections
- None were needed.
What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.
Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published September 25, 2026 · last revised October 3, 2026
- Chicago
“Cochineal.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 3, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/cochineal.
- MLA
“Cochineal.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 3 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/cochineal. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Cochineal. (2026, October 3). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/cochineal
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See Also
Drawing on the same sources: Pomet, Chung
Crabs’ eyes · Cardamom · Cubeb · Onion · the bibliography →
Nearby in the alphabet
Coffee (The roasted seeds of Coffea arabica) · Cochia pills · Colocynth (The dried pulp of Citrullus colocynthis) · Clove · Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara) · Clary, garden (Salvia sclarea) · Comfrey (Symphytum officinale) · Civet (The glandular secretion of the civet cat)
Historical description, not medical advice.