: views from the Hill

Thursday, June 07, 2007

cochineal, also known as carmine -- derived from the dried bodies of pregnant scale insects

theage.com.au has a terrific article, Meaty Bites (by John Bailey) which begins thusly,

Masterfoods in Britain recently announced that Mars Bars would now contain animal product - specifically rennet, an extract pulled from the stomachs of calves. Sweet-toothed vegetarians the world over howled in protest and the company quickly restored the original recipe and issued a blatant apology for its error. But how many other foods contain sneaky meats and furtive fish?

Number one on Bailey's list is Nestle Strawberry NesQuik which gets that unearthly pink color from "colour (120)". That 120 is cochineal, also known as carmine, and is derived from the dried bodies of pregnant scale insects (the yummy sounding Dactylopius coccus costa).


His article goes on from there naming most cheeses (rennet there too), anything with gelatin (check the yogurt label), Guinness (Guinness!) and other you-may-not-realize-they're-not-vegetarian foods.

Bailey also specifically mentions Lea&Perrins Worcestershire sauce, which contains anchovies and has since forever.

I actually knew this (as of last night) because I was making a cheese sauce for the cauliflower (white sauce, shredded cheese...) and added a bit of Worcester sauce for some added punch along with chopped grilled onions and fresh-ground pepper. I said to his nibs, "What's in Worcester sauce anyway?" and he read the ingredients off the label: vinegar, molasses, high fructose corn syrup (!!), anchovies, water, hydrolyzed soy and corn protein, onions, tamarind, salt, garlic, cloves, chili peppers, natural flavorings and shallots.

Anchovies? Who knew? Well now you do, I do, and anyone who read John Bailey's article does too.

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