Buggy Fruit

Dannon and Yoplait strawberry yogurt and Ocean Spray pink-grapefruit juice drink, and many other red foods are made with bugs. A common food coloring called cochineal extract (or sometimes carmine or carminic acid) is used in many red foods and drinks.

Cochineal gets its red color from an insect called Dactylopius coccus Costa, which feeds on red cactus berries.

To make cochineal, the insects are dried and then ground up into a powder. You'll find it in lots of processed pink, red or purple foods. Somehow knowing this does not bug me as much as I thought it would.

Food From the Seventies

1970: Orville Redenbacher's Gourmet Popping Corn, Hamburger Helper, Morton's salt substitute
1971: Starbucks founded, McCormick's "Roast in a Bag Kit"
1972: Celestial Seasonings Herbal Teas, Snapple, Quaker Oates granola
1973: Egg McMuffins, Cup O'Noodles, Stove Top Stuffing, Promise (margarine), Brim (caffeine-free instant coffee)
1974: Yoplait yogurt, Miller Lite, Mrs. Field's Cookies, Mr. Coffee
1975: Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookies, Country Time lemonade
1976: Pop Rocks, Burger King launches its "Have it Your Way", Starburst Fruit Chews, Oodles of Noodles, Puritan Oil, Perrier Water introduced to U.S. markets
1977: Twix Cookie Bars, Denny's Grand Slam Breakfast, recyclable soda bottles, plastic grocery bags
1978: McCormick's Lite Gravy, Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream, Reggie Bar (candy), Reese's Pieces, Arby's Beef'n'Cheddar Sandwich

Fifty Years Ago

As we approach the new decade, let's look back at the decade of the 1960s to see the grand food things that were invented then.

1960, Coffee Rich, aluminum cans used for food and beverages, Domino's Pizza, Granny Smith apples introduced to the USA, and single-serving ketchup packets.

1961 Total breakfast cereal, Mrs. Butterworth's Syrup, Green Giant frozen peas, Sprite, Coffee-Mate, Hardee's

1962
Frozen bread dough, Pet-Ritz Frozen Pie Crusts, Diet-Rite Cola, tab-opening aluminum cans for soft drinks, Taco Bell

1963
Tab soda, Wundra flour, Cremora

1964
Pop-Tarts, Buffalo Wings (Anchor Bar, Buffalo NY), Coca cola in cans, Ruffles potato chips, Lucky Charms breakfast cereal, Bugles, Chiffon Margarine, Seven Seas Salad Dressing, Yoplait Yogurt, Awake synthetic orange juice, Maxim freeze-dried instant coffee, Carnation Instant Breakfast

1965
Shake 'n Bake, Cool Whip, Tang, Rock Cornish game hens, Apple Jacks breakfast cereal, SpaghettiOs, Cranapple Fruit Juice, Gatorade, Diet Pepsi

1966
Bac'Os, Product 19 breakfast cereal, $100,000 candy bar, Caravelle candy bar, Taster's Choice freeze dried coffee, Doritos, instant oatmeal, Easy Cheese

1967
Lawry's Taco Seasoning Mix

1968
Red Lobster restaurants, Legal Seafoods restaurants

1969
Chunky Soups, Kaboom breakfast cereal, Frosted Mini-Wheats breakfast cereal, Chipos snack food, Pringles potato snacks, Wendy's restaurants, Long John Silver's Fish 'n Chips restaurants