Have you ever heard of cochineal? And I am not referring to the upscale restaurant in Marfa, Texas, but to the small, scale insect native to our area. This insect lives on nopal, prickly pear, Opuntia ...

Q: I have prickly pear cactus that has white patches on the pads that looks like little bits of cotton. What is this, and is this bad for the plant? A: Most likely what you are seeing on your cactus ...

An average trip to the grocery store can yield a cartful of colorful foods. Bright among the rainbow are the reds, lending hues to products such as raspberry jam, canned cherries, strawberry licorice, ...

Some of the prickly pear cacti are encrusted with a tangle of waxy, white silken threads. At first, the patches of white look like fungus or blotches of bleached, dead tissue. But closer inspection ...

Cochineal is a red dye made from a crushed insect native to Latin America. Some vegetarians are distressed that Starbucks uses the dye in some of... Call it the tempest in the Frappuccino. Some ...