Cochineal or koshenilny mealybug - a tiny insect that lives in Europe and Latin America, the females of which are raw material for vegetable dye bright red-purple color - carmine. Textile dyeing, wool and down, the use of red ink - the oldest use of carmine extracted from the European (Polish and Ararat) cochineal. Today dye derived from cochineal, is also known as a food additive E121.
The source of that age already carmine cochineal is planted in the cactus plantations in Mexico. First in Europe, she appeared in Spain in the XVI century, bright paint, among other gifts brought his king Juan Cortes. Collected dried insects were sold everywhere, in Russia, they were known as "kantselyarnoe seed." Unlike European Mexican cochineal species life cycle has a smaller (5 generations per year instead of 1), and in a dried form has practically no fat, complicating purification technology dye. With the advent of the Mexican discontinue use of the European cochineal.