Cochineal and kermes قرمزدانه

Cochineal is a red dye made from the dried bodies of female scale insects. True cochineal (Dactylopius coccus) is American: the English were shipping it to Baku by the late 16th century and into Persia in the early 17th. Older local insect reds, kermes and Armenian red (Porphyrophora hamelii), were produced in north-west Iran and Armenia. The sources often confuse the three.

Also kermes · Armenian red · insect red · insect reds · qermez · Dactylopius coccus

See also Lac, Madder, Aniline dye

Last reviewed November 2026