I think of beetles.

Big red Coccineal beetles.

Yum.

So does it bother me that the recent news reports have revealed the BIG secret that the bright red color in some of my food comes from crushed beetle? NO. The ingredient is called Carmine. And after reading this here website (http://www.newstarget.com/002043.html), I am all for beetle juice! Ew. Ok so I tried to make a joke.

But really, this is how is works. These little critters are bred on cactus plants. After they are collected they are killed. Then the 'special' parts of the beetle with the most color enhancing properties (read the article for more detail on this) are sorted, dried and crushed into a powder. Then the powder is cooked in liquid, and the remaining liquid drained from the mixture is pure Carmine. It is used in so many red/purplish products. We've been eating it for YEEEEARS people! And now that you know what it is we're all scared of it and vegetarians are feeling violated. OK. So the vegetarians (I know of plenty) are really being fooled. It's not fair to them and I will not tell them to get over it. But the rest of us meat eaters need to get over it. It's not like you're going to find a beetle floating in your food. It is a lengthy and refined process that develops this color and in no way is going to affect your health unless you're highly allergic. We all are ingesting so many other things that are way worse for us then something that comes from nature.

So if you're not a vegetarian or have serious allergies we should be happy that Dannon Cherry yogurt doesn't use FD&C red 40. Which according to the article comes from coal tar. THAT to me is gross. I agree with the columnist and say that I'll take beetles over tar. Check your red food labels everyone...and have a cup of beetle. ha ha