Blood–sucking insect is used in Spain to prepare crimson color from the acid that the insect produced in order to protect themselves from killers.

Spain’s Canary Islands is popular for conserving the insect to produce the color. The cochineal is mainly used by the industries that manufacture food products and cosmetics, reveals Juan Cazorla. Juan Cazorla is a biologists working on triggering the cultivation of the insect in the island of Lanzarote.

According to Juan, he, along with many other biologists, was trying to educate various craftsmen in the area about its usage, in order to increase the importance of the product in the region. They were also trying to popularize this naturally extracted color among the artists and craftsmen of the countries like France, Turkey, Britain and United States.

As per Juan, in order to produce a kilogram of the dry powder based dye, around 3-3.5 kilograms cochineals were required. They extract the cacti sap and set the insects free across the vegetation. The farmers guide them by planting small plants with many mother cochineals producing their offspring on the plants.

Every year, around 2,000-3,000 kilograms of dry cochineals are produced each year. In the year 2010, Spain sold Germany dry cochineals for 50 Euro a Kilogram.