April 5, 2012   Food and Drink, News   No comments

One Venti Strawberries and Cream Frappuchino; Hold the dead beetles please.

starbucks

 

 

 

Starbucks is known for high priced coffee, annoying customers who take forever to order, and people who sit for hours attempting to look like they’re working on their latest novel when they are actually only playing ‘words with friends’.

‘Ok, one more round and then I’ll write 4 chapters’

One thing you may not have known. Especially if you are someone who enjoys the creamy goodness of a strawberries and cream frappuchino. (And if you’re a guy who orders this then you deserve it.)

The pretty pretty pink color comes from cochineal extract. ‘Well,’ you may say; ‘that sound like a miracle of modern culinary chemistry.’ And you would be right. Let’s take a look at the definition of cochineal extract.

Cochineal Extract

1. A red dye made of the dried and pulverized bodies of female cochineal insects. It is used as a biological stain and as an indicator in acid-base titrations.
2. A vivid red.
What is a cochineal insect?
This is a Cochineal Insect. Cute!
So, Cochineal extract is essentially a bunch of these crushed up to make a red dye. Or Beetle Juice.
I like my frappuchinos with an extra shot of Winona Ryder.
‘How disgusting’, you say as you take another sip off the cup of frothy blended bugs. Is it? What other foods contain ‘cochineal extracts?’
Pretty much anything that is colorful. Anything pretty and red. From alcohols to yogurts to candy. Bugs are in everything!
Is it a brain bug?
I’m no chemist. (Not anymore at least, not after the unpleasantness with the FDA and my home made Kahlua caused blindness.) But I’m pretty sure since ground up bugs are in all the pretty foods, and no one is dying of ingestion of ground up bugs, we’re safe. Disgusting bug munchers, but safe.
Here’s another tasty bug.
So go ahead, enjoy your bugs. Pretty soon, the way the world is going, we’ll have to be eating a lot more bugs. And they won’t be in pretty pink cups with whip cream on them.

Average Slob

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