Too Young to Dye Trivia Quiz

Answer: Cochineal

Native to South America, Mexico and Arizona, cochineals can usually be located on those rather hideous looking prickly pear plants, and are reasonably easy to harvest. They are simply brushed off into a container and, after being drowned in hot water, are left to dry out.

The female insect, that is. She's the one that produces the beautiful crimson and scarlet dyes for which the cochineal is so famous. After drying, the bodies are then ground down into a powder, which is mixed in various solutions to produce the dye.

It takes almost one hundred thousand of these little creatures to make one kilogram of their still highly sought after dye which was once far more valuable before the advent of synthetic dyes than it is today. Peru and the Canary Islands are the largest manufacturers of cochineal dye in the 21st century, and have a thriving market in France, Italy and Japan.

Answer: Cattle urine

Producing any colour from the urine of cattle wouldn't be so bad, if you could stand the smell, and if the animals from which it was obtained were fed a nourishing diet and looked after well. Instead, these animals were exclusively fed the leaves of a certain plant only. It is thought this plant was mango, but there is no one agreement on that. Whatever they were fed as their sole diet, however, contained a toxin, and this resulted in frail, ill and very undernourished creatures. This practice is said to have been outlawed in 1908. To produce the end product that became the dye, the urine was collected, concentrated over flames, strained and then sun dried. The end result was lumps of hard dirty yellow balls known as puree. The bright shade of yellow that puree produced had a very ready market in Europe where it was refined further and then used by artists, and in dyeing textiles.

British author, Victoria Findlay, in her 2004 work "A Natural History of the Palette" has questioned the origins of Indian yellow, as she could find no written records of same, but one imagines that not that many records were kept on cow urine several hundred years ago. Another suggested source of puree is that it was produced from the gallstones of camels, elephants and buffalos, or found already existing in their urine.

Answer: Catechu

Extracts from this tree have been used for several thousand years by people from India, both for medicinal purpose and to create dye. In more modern times, the extracts obtained by boiling its bark, and allowing the fluid to evaporate, are still used as a dye, but also as breath fresheners, in food additives, in preserving fishing nets and sails, in the manufacture of French liquorice, and by the British to turn a favourite brand of their vodka a rather unappealing shade of black. Catechu is also known by several other names apart from the two used in this question, including black cutch, cachou and cashoo (Gesundheit), Japan earth, terra japonica and khoyer.

These names depend on the area in which the tree is cultivated. Tannin is also extracted from this tree, and is rather more effective in its assorted uses than that obtained from oak trees.

Answer: Yellow

Weld has also been introduced into the North American continent in more recent times, where it is rather considered a weed. It was used for several thousand years prior to that in Europe and Asia to produce a rich yellow dye and related shades colours along the spectrum. Weld is also known as dyer's weed, dyer's rocket and yellow weed, which seems just a tad insulting considering its long service to mankind. France was once a top producer of the dye produced from weld, but the plant extracts since have been replaced by synthetic dyes in recent times in that country. Egypt, however, still uses this plant, which can grow anywhere, to produce the rich yellow dye for which it is so famous, most particularly in its rug and carpet industries.

Answer: Lac

Producers in these countries have a rather interesting, and very low cost, method of maintaining the supply of lac insects. They simply take a branch on which the female has laid fresh eggs, and then tie it to a new tree on which the eggs eventually hatch and then multiply.

When the majority of the new insects reach maturity, the branches of the tree on which they live are cut, crushed, sieved and then washed many time to remove any impurities. This is then heated and processed into shellac, famous for the truly lovely deep rich shades of red used in Asian lands since ancient times.

This is used today to varnish furniture, as an ingredient in cosmetics, to dye wool, silk and leather, as a slimming aid, and even as an ingredient in food products such as wines, jams and sauces.

Answer: Purple

Also known as rock snails, the murex snail was harvested by early cultures in the Mediterranean for the beautiful shade of purple it produced. The amazing thing about this dye was that, unlike others, it became brighter as the garments with which it was dyed, aged.

The lengthy process needed to extract this shade, coupled with the thousands of snails needed just to produce a small amount, eventually resulted in the dye, known as Tyrian purple, becoming the exclusive wear of members of royalty only. Severe penalties were inflicted on those of the lower classes who contravened this ruling. One myth has it that the Greek hero, Heracles, discovered the dye when he noticed that his dog's mouth was stained purple from chewing on the snails as they strolled along the coast.

A likely story. Today, with synthetic dyes replacing the murex snail produced colour, these creatures are now considered a pest in some area of the Mediterranean.

Answer: Buddhist monks

Also known as saptrees (because of the resin that produces the colour) and mangosteens, garcinias or monkey fruit, the gamboge tree, depending on which area it is grown, produces several different types of fruit. It not only provides a food and spice source for man, it has also been used in folk medicines for hundreds of years, its sticks have been used since ancient times for cleaning teeth and to freshen the breath, and it is a primary food source for the beautiful Archduke butterfly.

It grows easily throughout Cambodia, Thailand, India and Pakistan, and in some parts of Australia. Rather drastically though, eating too much of the fruits from this tree over a prolonged period can cause acidosis and severely damage testicles.

The deep mustard yellow or saffron colour used to dye the robes of Buddhist monks is obtained from the resin produced by the gamboge, but the tree must be at least ten years old for this to occur.

Answer: Indigofera

Grown throughout tropical and sub-tropical areas of the globe, Indigofera has provided a restful shade of blue for man for some 1,500 years. Examples of its use have been found in the scraps of blue-dyed materials located in Egyptian tombs. Just as a contrast though, the flowers on this dainty plant are usually lilac, or pink, red, yellow and white. Cultivated widely in North and South Carolina and the Caribbean in the early 18th century, the dye obtained from Indigofera was exported all over the world, and at one stage, was the second most important crop grown in these areas. Folk medicine practitioners use extracts of this plant as an anti-inflammatory, to relieve pain, to ease toothache, and to treat insect and snake bites.

Answer: Red and pink and orange

Grown in Egypt, Greece, Italy and Asia, the madder root has been cultivated since 1,500 BC for the lovely warm shades it produces. Examples of its use have been found in the tomb of King Tut, in ancient Roman villas, in Pompeii, and, centuries later, in the famous red coats uniforms of the British army. Assorted ingredients are mixed with the extract of this plant to bring out its various hues.

Unfortunately, synthetic dyes producing the same shades, but at a fraction of the cost, were developed in the late 19th century, so it is now rare to find naturally produced madder dyes except in the art world.

Answer: Indian gooseberry

The tree on which Indian gooseberries grow can reach heights from three to twenty-six feet which is a rather startling difference. The yellow-green fruit it produces are fit for human consumption, if slightly sour. These are usually soaked in a combination of salt water and red chilli powder first, so think twice before happily chomping into one. Hindus believe the god Vishnu inhabits this tree so it is considered sacred. All parts of this tree, including its roots, leaves, bark, flowers and fruit are utilised in a number of ways by man, but usually in folk medicines.

The fruit itself is either eaten alone, combined with various dishes, or used to make ink, shampoo, or the dye which, along with various solutions, produces colours of greens, yellows and black.