From What Color is Carmine to Everything About it

Many people are curious about what color is carmine. Well, as a general term for color, carmine is a particularly deep-red color. At the same time, as a chemical pigment, it can also be called cochineal carmine, CI (1975) No. 75470, and CI Natural Red 4.

The bright red color of carmine is obtained from the aluminum complex which consists of the dried bodies of a kind of female insect. This article will tell you a lot of interesting things about carmine, including chemical knowledge to historical background.

What color is carmine

Normally, carmine shows as a bright red color or occurs as a dark red powder. As a general term for the deep red colors, the carmine color is a little bit purplish but also slightly closer to red. It is also the color of some rubies which show as rich carmine. As a standard color coordinate, the sRGB number of carmine is (150, 0, 24). The colouring principle of carmine is a hydrated aluminum chelate of carminic acid.

The information above will definitely help you know clearly about the basic question: what color is carmine?

The vivid red from carmine is derived from a kind of female insect called Dactylopius coccus Costa. It can also show various beautiful colors through different colour reactions. For example, if you add 1 drop of 10% potassium hydroxide or sodium hydroxide solution to make a solution of the carmine sample slightly alkaline, it will produce a violet color.

What is the history behind carmine

In 700 BC, people already found that female cochineal insects have an attractive red color. Then the Aztec civilization extensively use this pigment to dye textiles. Lately, in the 16th century, carmine was imported to Europe. Carmine became the Spanish Crown’s major source of income until the French started to cultivate cochineal. 

What are the uses of carmine

Carmine is a kind of popular eating colouring. It often is used in a lot of food such as fruit juices, yogurt, candy, meat and gelatin. As a colorant, it is also widely used in the manufacture of clothes, artificial flowers, rouge, ink, and other cosmetics, and even sometimes use in medications. However, natural carmine is kind of instability, which becomes a challenge for use in textiles and art. Fortunately, it is not a big deal in the context of cosmetics. When carmine is used in these commercial products, the coloring principle is usually present in association with calcium, sodium cations, ammonium, and potassium, singly or in combination. 

In a cultural aspect, the color red is also a representation of social status and power. Throughout human history, kings and queens, and tribal chiefs often wear red. 

The arguments about carmine

Be careful when you use carmine in foods and beverages because researchers said it may cause serious allergic reactions, even anaphylactic shock in some individuals. 

In Europe, when you use carmine in specific beverage and food products, the permitted MPL (maximum permitted level) concentration is 0-5 mg/kg. According to reports, the EFSA(European Food Safety Authority) noticed there were an increasing number of people suffering from allergic reaction due to natural carmine. A synthesized food colorant has replaced the old insect-derived carmine in many pharmaceutical products. This new version is derived from plants, concerning as a safer way. As internal research has shown that the new version of medication did have a notably lower risk of reducing all kinds of allergic reactions.

But in the USA, you don’t have to certificate for it and may use it safely for coloring ingested and externally applied drugs and foods generally.  

How to produce carmine

Carmine is produced from carminic acid. We can extract this acid from some scale insects, including Polish cochineal, Armenian cochineal, and Prima (cochineal scale). In the early time, people who lived in South America would crush the insects on cacti to extract the beautiful color they contain. But now the bugs are farmed. Natural cochineal carmine still dominates the market, due to the production of synthetic carminic acid is complex and sophisticated.

The first step of preparing carmine is to put powdered scale insect bodies in a special solution and boil it. Then you can separate the insoluble matter and treat it with a specific substance to precipitate the red solid. After that, you can get “carmine lake”. Surprisingly, you need 70,000 cochineal bugs to obtain 1 pound of this precious red dye. The official chemical name of carmine is the Hydrated aluminum chelate of carminic acid.

In conclusion, it is clear that the color of carmine often be dark red when it occurs as a powder or bright red as friable pieces. It is a kind of aluminum hydroxide substrate, obtained by a complex operating procedure. Carmine is largely used in the industry for coloring drugs, food, and cosmetics.