Cochineal Red

Carmine

Carmine – also called cochineal, cochineal extract, crimson lake, or carmine lake – is a pigment of a bright-red color obtained from the aluminium complex derived from carminic acid. Specific code names for the pigment include natural red 4, C.I. 75470, or E120. Carmine is also a general term for a particularly deep-red color.

Ponceau 4R

Ponceau 4R is a synthetic colourant that may be used as a food colouring. It is denoted by E Number E124. Its chemical name is 1-(4-sulfo-1-napthylazo)-2-napthol-6,8-disulfonic acid, trisodium salt. Ponceau is the generic name for a family of azo dyes.

Cochineal

The cochineal is a scale insect in the suborder Sternorrhyncha, from which the natural dye carmine is derived. A primarily sessile parasite native to tropical and subtropical South America through North America, this insect lives on cacti in the genus Opuntia, feeding on plant moisture and nutrients. The insects are found on the pads of prickly pear cacti, collected by brushing them off the plants, and dried.

Red

Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–750 nanometers. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondary color in the CMYK color model, and is the complementary color of cyan. Reds range from the brilliant yellow-tinged scarlet and vermillion to bluish-red crimson, and vary in shade from the pale red pink to the dark red burgundy.

cochineal

Noun

1. A scale insect of the species Dactylopius coccus, native to the tropical and subtropical Americas, which lives on prickly pear cacti (genus Opuntia).
2. A vivid red dye made from the dried bodies of cochineal insects.

Adjective

1. Possessing a vivid red colour, as or as if produced from dyeing with cochineal dye (noun sense 2).

red

Noun

1. The color of the setting sun, blood, and strawberries; the color which is evoked by the longest visible wavelengths (between about 625–740 nm), and a primary additive color.
2. A revolutionary socialist or (most commonly) a Communist; a Bolshevik, a supporter of the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War.

Adjective

1. Of a red hue.
2. Having an orange-brown or orange-blond colour; ginger.