Inoculation

Cochineal insects are inoculated onto the patented Cultured Bugs™ media. This media is reusable and renewable and includes all the nutrients cochineal need to grow and thrive. This media is easily stored on shelves inside a Cultured Bugs™ facility and doesn’t incorporate any cactus spines or the need for the natural environment the way traditional cultivation does.

Harvest

The harvest method, unlike traditional methods, includes no hand picking of the gravid female. Instead the Cultured Bugs™ method can harvest all cochineal insects at one time, dramatically increasing yields. This is done quickly, in one step, and includes the wax. The end result is rapid collection for extraction while leaving behind media that can be re-inoculated.

Regional Dependence

The Cultured Bugs™ process can be done anywhere in the world. This has obvious benefits as it avoids unfavorable geo-political situations and allows producers to decide to convert existing cochineal operations or to move operations to another, more strategic location.

Growth

The cochineal can grow with nothing more than the media. However, Cultured Bugs™ includes many opportunities to improve the growth of the insects with nutrient blends and optimized “climate”.

Cochineal typically create cochineal wax as a protectant in the wild. The Cultured Bugs™ process allows for the harvesting of this wax for retail sale, or can grow the cochineal in conditions so finely tuned for growth that the cochineal produce almost none.

Extraction

With Cultured Bugs™ the typical drying stage is eliminated and the cochineal go straight from harvest to extraction. The patented method results in two very valuable outputs: aqueous carminic acid at 90% concentration and cochineal wax. These products can then be sold as is, or processed further.

Chemically Identical

Cultured Bugs™ produces carminic acid that is chemically identical to traditionally produced carminic acid. The has been verified by independent third party labs and the acid can be purified, dried, or processed into carmine just like all other carminic acid in the world. For verification of these tests please contact us.

Threats

Cochineal are constantly subjected to threats in the wild. Predators, infection, cactus infection, natural disasters, and climate change are only some of the factors that affect cochineal yields and therefore cochineal profits. The Cultured Bugs™ process removes all of these by growing the cochineal inside a controlled facility which produces predictable and timely harvests.

Straightforward to operate

Best of all, Cultured Bugs™ is easy to operate. The process involves neither expensive equipment nor highly trained labor. In fact the process is so straightforward that it could be fully automated. The inexpensive operation, the predictability, and the control offered by Cultured Bugs™, makes it the disruptive technology that will change the way cochineal is produced forever.