crushed bugs that live on cactus plants in South America. It takes tens of thousands of the ground-up insects to make just a pound of the vivid red dye. The red coloring, called carmine ...

Just a few bugs won’t do it: Nearly 70,000 insects are just enough to make one pound of dye. The insects might appear whitish-grey on the outside, but inside their bodies are a deep purpley-red.