... from the female cochineal insects. Cochineal is used to produce , and other red tints. The colouring ... decaying. It takes about 70,000 insects to make one pound of cochineal dye.There are two ... the cochineal. To prepare carmine, the powdered insect bodies are boiled in or a solution, the insoluble ... by filtering, and is added to the clear salt solution of carminic acid to precipitate the red salt. ...