Red Velvet Cake

Dessert doesn't get any better than Red Velvet Cake. It has a list of ingredients that make your mouth water -- eggs, butter, sugar, insect larvae ...

What? Insect larvae in red velvet cake? Say it ain't so!

Fit for a king

The first red velvet cakes were made in New York City around 1950, or maybe slightly earlier in Canada. At that time the only food dye available that was strong enough to make chocolate cake look red was a dye made from an insect called the cochineal. So dye made from cochineal larva became the standard way to make red velvet cake.

The cochineal is a flying insect when adult, but the larva has a deep red color. The red comes from a very high concentration of carminic acid. It produces the acid to keep away predators. As much as 25% of the larva's body weight is made of carminic acid.

Whose turn to lick the bowl?

But carminic acid makes a very good dye. Mix the acid with calcium and presto you have a very strong dye made from all natural ingredients.

Making carmine dye as it was called was one of the very first industries created by the Spanish in Central America. The Mixtec people used carmine dye to color clothes and to trade with other regional peoples. Carmine dye was shipped throughout Europe from the 1500's. Used as a clothing dye it was one of the longer lasting and most expensive dyes of the time.

But later it became a food dye. Possibly the first food use of carmine dye was with fish. A little red dye makes a fish or other meat look fresh longer. Butchers figured this out by the 1600's. Carmine dye extract became a staple in meat shops across Europe. But over the years soft drinks, yogurt, candy, ketchup and lots of other foods have used carmine dye.

If you've done much hiking in warm dry areas of the US you've probably seen evidence of cochineal larva. They are encased in the white stain that appears on the prickly pear cactus.

Many don't notice the white stain or assume it's something else such as bird droppings. But it's the cochineal larvae acting as a parasite on the prickly pear.

Cochineal larvae residence

If you're interesting in trying (or staying away from) carmine dye check the label of your favorite food. If it's colored with cochineal larvae the label will say Cochineal, Cochineal Extract, Carmine, Crimson Lake, Natural Red 4, C.I. 75470, or E120 on the label. There's still an industry that gathers and dries the larvae and creates the extract in Central America.

But today most all red velvet cakes are made with artificial dye. Several food companies have come under fire for using carmine dye in their products including Dannon and Starbucks. But really, are bugs worse for you than Red dye #2 and Red Dye #40? They're made from petroleum. I'll take the bugs.

Note:  Red Dye #40 is sometimes called Beetle Juice on the internet. It's not. It's derived from petroleum. Natural Dye 4 is the real Beetle Juice. Or at least Bug Juice.