Ancient
Slavs developed a method of obtaining red dye from the larvae of the Polish cochineal. Despite the labor-intensive process of harvesting the cochineal and a relatively modest yield, the dye continued to be a highly sought-after commodity and a popular alternative to
kermes throughout the Middle Ages until the age of discoveries of the New World, from where the Spanish and Portuguese explorers and conquistadors brought cheaper dyes from Southern America.
Dye production , the chief host plant of the Polish cochineal Similar to some other red dyes obtained from scale insects, the red coloring is derived from
carminic acid with traces of
kermesic acid. The Polish cochineal carminic acid content is approximately 0.6% of the insect's dried body weight. The insects were harvested shortly before the female larvae reached maturity, i.e. in late June, usually around
Saint John the Baptist's day (June 24), hence the dye's folk name, Saint John's blood. The harvesting process involved uprooting the host plant and picking the female larvae, averaging approximately ten insects from each plant. In Poland, including present-day
Ukraine, and elsewhere in Europe, plantations were operated in order to deal with the high toll on the host plants. in order to remove fat. The extract could then be used for dyeing
silk,
wool,
cotton, or
linen. The dyeing process requires roughly 3-4
oz of dye per
pound (180-250
g per
kilogram) of silk and one pound of dye to color almost 20 pounds (50 g per kilogram) of wool.
Trade (1599–1665), in a crimson costume typical of
Polish magnates Polish cochineal was widely traded in Europe during the Middle Ages and the
Renaissance. In the 15th and 16th centuries, along with grain, timber, and salt, it was one of
Poland's chief exports, mainly to southern
Germany and northern
Italy as well as to
France,
England, the
Ottoman Empire, and
Armenia. In Poland, the cochineal trade was mostly monopolized by Jewish merchants, who bought the dye from peasants in
Red Ruthenia and other regions of Poland and Lithuania. The merchants shipped the dye to major Polish cities such as
Kraków, Danzig (
Gdańsk), and
Poznań. From there, the merchandise was exported to wholesalers in Breslau (
Wrocław),
Nuremberg,
Frankfurt,
Augsburg,
Venice, and other destinations. The Polish cochineal trade was a lucrative business for the intermediaries; according to
Marcin of Urzędów (1595), one pound of Polish cochineal cost between four and five Venetian pounds. In terms of quantities, the trade reached its peak in the 1530s. In 1534, 1963
stones (about 30
metric tons) of the dye were sold in Poznań alone. The advent of cheaper Mexican
cochineal led to an abrupt slump in the Polish cochineal trade, and the 1540s saw a steep decline in quantities of the red dye exported from Poland. In 1547, Polish cochineal disappeared from the Poznań customs registry; a
Volhynian clerk noted in 1566 that the dye no longer paid in Gdańsk. Perennial knawel plantations were replaced with cereal fields or pastures for raising cattle. Polish cochineal, which until then was mostly used by the rich nobles and the royals and as an export product, continued to be used locally by the peasants who collected it; it was employed not only for dyeing fabric but also as a
vodka colorant, an ingredient in
folk medicine, crafts or even for decorative coloring of horses' tails. With the
partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century, vast markets in
Russia and
Central Asia opened to Polish cochineal, which became an export product again – this time, to the East. In the 19th century,
Bukhara,
Uzbekistan, became the principal Polish cochineal trading center in Central Asia; from there the dye was shipped to
Kashgar in
Xinjiang, and
Kabul and
Herat in
Afghanistan. It is possible that the Polish dye was used to manufacture some of the famous
oriental rugs.
Studies The earliest known scientific study of the Polish cochineal is found in the ''
(Polish
Herbal'') by
Marcin of Urzędów (1595), where it was described as "small red seeds" that grow under plant roots, becoming "ripe" in April and from which a little "bug" emerges in June. The first scientific comments by non-Polish authors were written by
Segerius (1670) and
von Bernitz (1672). In 1731,
Johann Philipp Breyne, wrote '
(translated into English during the same century), the first major treatise about the insect, including the results of his research on its physiology and life cycle. In 1934, Polish biologist Antoni Jakubski wrote ' (
Polish cochineal), a monograph taking into account both the insect's biology and historical role. == Linguistics ==