This morning, Laurel harvested cochineal from the cactus garden. Cochineal is an insect, that when crushed, the females release a dark red liquid that can be used by our living historians for dye. Read more from our friends at Texas Co-op Power: https://www.texascooppower.com/texas-stories/history/the-bugs-that-make-you-see-red *this video is silent* | The Alamo

Here is our late, great educator Mark Phillips discussing the cochineal insect that can be found at Fossil Rim! The cochineal is native to Mexico and South America. This insect is tiny and lives on cactus 🌵 plants – usually the prickly pear cactus. Female insects eat the red cactus berries, which concentrates the color in their bodies. The use of cochineal insects as dye is actually common in the food industry, and the dye has been around for centuries. The cochineal insects are harvested in tw