@claralistensprechen5th I guess you don' throw the bugs directly into your pot, otherwise you'll end up with large streaks and dots. It sounds like you need to extract the color and pour off liquid (but no bugs) into pot, for evenness.
Why do I have a marble cutting board and marble roller? Undoubtedly I picked this up for free when it didn't sell at a community garage sale for some group I was involved in. I guess pastry dough people like it marble because it keeps butter from melting. Not great. The roller needs a new handle, I just need two pieces of hardwood and a drill. Or you could buy replacements.
They tell you to have a super solid surface for the stitching/pricking irons. Makes sense. At the class I took they had a stack of sink-shaped marble cutouts for us to use. I guess the cutouts are cheapish. Ha
@EugestShirley Oooh, I always wanted to whack a beer bottle against marble 🤪 (I do have a rubber mallet too... But a beer bottle sounds like more fun). Will try all that tomorrow when I have light again (plus running out of steam... canning tomatoes until midnight last night LOL)
It might be safer to whack against a slab of wood. Marble is a pretty soft stone. Great for serving cheese or rolling pie dough, because it stays cool. Not so good for whacking.
This is one of those times when I would be sorely tempted to throw the stuff in a cup of 50/50 filtered water and ethanol and put it in an Instant Pot for 2 minutes.
@femme_mal Distilling it in alcohol is an option, or at least using the alcohol to enhance extraction would do it. Some of the instructions i have seen are to put these semi-mashed bugs in a saucepan 3-4 times with some liquid to do the color extraction, which I will probably do tomorrow (whole bugs in sauce = spotty color).
Cochineals are tiny bugs that live on prickly pear cactuses. The acid in their guts makes a red dye used in textiles, cosmetics, and foods like M&Ms and Yopl...
Real cranberry juice (which you can buy in bottles, but it's harder to find) is vegetarian, and has nothing in it but cranberries and water. You're talking about cranberry juice cocktail, and that's mostly sweetened water.
This product is labelled as "100% cranberry juice" on the web page, and "100% unsweetened Juice: Cranberry Juice (fine print: blend of 4 juices from concentrate with added ingredients)" on the bottle.
However, when I've looked for other products, many on older lists that list products with cochineal or carmine now seem to have other coloring agents instead in their modern ingredient labels, I think a lot of companies realized that no one expected that their products weren't vegetarian, and there can be allergy issues with the dye.
100% JUICE SERVE CHILLED AND SHAKE WELL BEFORE OPENING. REFRIGERATE AFTER OPENING AND CONSUME WITHIN 10 DAYS OF OPENING. PASTEURIZED. UPC: 6 8623411622 1
@femme_mal several years ago, there was a big surprise that they were used to color pink drinks at Starbucks and vegetarians (and other people) didn’t realize where the color came from.
@femme_mal @bolderbekah Speaking of Starbucks, you know they'll give you the used (spent) grounds behind the counter if you ask nicely. I could boil and extract some coffee for dyeing out of the grounds and then put the grounds in the garden for fertilizer, all without spending any money on coffee.
It would be interesting to do some crude chromatography: put some lines of colour across strips of paper the short way about half an inch from the bottom, and put the bottom edges into various solvents: water; ethanol; methanol; IPA; turps; what have you ...
MsMerope
in reply to AI6YR Ben • • •keeps the critters out of the vehicle, makes the battery happy and smooshes stuff realllll good.
(double bag it)
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AI6YR Ben
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Radio Free Trumpistan
in reply to AI6YR Ben • •Seems to me such mottling is actually classy. Just sayin'.
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Radio Free Trumpistan
in reply to AI6YR Ben • •Yeah, if you want monotonous monotone. I like the mottling.
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in reply to Shirley Eugest • • •Shirley Eugest
in reply to AI6YR Ben • • •Marble is a pretty soft stone. Great for serving cheese or rolling pie dough, because it stays cool.
Not so good for whacking.
Femme Malheureuse
in reply to AI6YR Ben • • •This is one of those times when I would be sorely tempted to throw the stuff in a cup of 50/50 filtered water and ethanol and put it in an Instant Pot for 2 minutes.
Run it through a blender immediately after.
AI6YR Ben
in reply to Femme Malheureuse • • •Femme Malheureuse
in reply to AI6YR Ben • • •Yeah, I think this definitely needs filtration to remove solids to prevent splotchy color.
Ugh, I didn't realize this stuff was used in cranberry juice. Who knew cranberries weren't red enough?
youtube.com/watch?v=iBNySB2jpV…
Why Tiny Cactus Bugs In Red Food Dye Are A $35 Billion Industry | Big Business | Business Insider
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3Jane Tessier Ashpool
in reply to Femme Malheureuse • • •moggie
in reply to 3Jane Tessier Ashpool • • •Real cranberry juice (which you can buy in bottles, but it's harder to find) is vegetarian, and has nothing in it but cranberries and water. You're talking about cranberry juice cocktail, and that's mostly sweetened water.
@3janeTA @femme_mal @ai6yr
AI6YR Ben
in reply to moggie • • •Brian Campbell
in reply to moggie • • •@EverydayMoggie @3janeTA @femme_mal
Wow.
This product is labelled as "100% cranberry juice" on the web page, and "100% unsweetened Juice: Cranberry Juice (fine print: blend of 4 juices from concentrate with added ingredients)" on the bottle.
The ingredients: "FILTERED WATER, CONCENTRATED JUICES, (APPLE, CRANBERRY, PEAR, GRAPE), NATURAL FLAVOR, PECTIN, COCHINEAL, CITRIC ACID, ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C)"
tropicaldelight.com/products/1…
However, when I've looked for other products, many on older lists that list products with cochineal or carmine now seem to have other coloring agents instead in their modern ingredient labels, I think a lot of companies realized that no one expected that their products weren't vegetarian, and there can be allergy issues with the dye.
100% Cranberry Juice
Tropical Delight BeveragesBekah
in reply to Femme Malheureuse • • •@femme_mal several years ago, there was a big surprise that they were used to color pink drinks at Starbucks and vegetarians (and other people) didn’t realize where the color came from.
Starbucks later stopped using them.
npr.org/sections/thesalt/2012/…
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Femme Malheureuse
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in reply to Femme Malheureuse • • •zl2tod
in reply to AI6YR Ben • • •It would be interesting to do some crude chromatography: put some lines of colour across strips of paper the short way about half an inch from the bottom, and put the bottom edges into various solvents: water; ethanol; methanol; IPA; turps; what have you ...
@femme_mal
AI6YR Ben
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