Cochineal Bugs, whole

Description

Raw cochineal comes to us in the form of silvery-purple dried insects about the size of a large grain of rice. They look like tiny little scarabs. The best cochineal is dark and full of carminic acid. They must be ground and boiled to extract the dyestuff, and yield a beautiful rose violet to scarlet color quite distinctive from cochineal extract. We only obtain the finest grade cochineal on the market.