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Annatto, sometimes called Roucou, is a derivative of the achiote
Achiote

Achiote is a shrub or small tree from the tropical region of the American continent. The name derives from the Nahuatl word for the shrub, achiotl....
 trees of tropical regions of the Americas, used to produce a red food coloring
Food coloring

A food coloring is any substance that is added to food or drink to change its color. Food coloring is used both in commercial food production and in domestic cooking....
 and also as a flavoring. Its scent is described as "slightly peppery with a hint of nutmeg" and flavor as "slightly sweet and peppery" .

Annatto is produced from the reddish pulp
Pulp

Pulp may refer to:...
 which surrounds the seed of the achiote (Bixa orellana L.).






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Annatto, sometimes called Roucou, is a derivative of the achiote
Achiote

Achiote is a shrub or small tree from the tropical region of the American continent. The name derives from the Nahuatl word for the shrub, achiotl....
 trees of tropical regions of the Americas, used to produce a red food coloring
Food coloring

A food coloring is any substance that is added to food or drink to change its color. Food coloring is used both in commercial food production and in domestic cooking....
 and also as a flavoring. Its scent is described as "slightly peppery with a hint of nutmeg" and flavor as "slightly sweet and peppery" .

Annatto is produced from the reddish pulp
Pulp

Pulp may refer to:...
 which surrounds the seed of the achiote (Bixa orellana L.). It is used in many cheese
Cheese

Cheese is a food consisting of proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cattle, Water Buffalo, goats, or sheep's milk. It is produced by Coagulation of the milk protein casein....
s (e.g., Cheddar
Cheddar cheese

Cheddar cheese is a relatively hard, pale-yellow to off-white, and sometimes sharp-tasting cheese originating in the English village of Cheddar, in Somerset....
, Red Leicester, and Brie
Brie (cheese)

Brie is a soft cows' cheese named after Brie , the France province in which it originated . It is pale in colour with a slight greyish tinge under crusty white mould; very soft and savoury with a hint of ammonia....
), margarine
Margarine

Margarine , as a generic term, can indicate any of a wide range of butter substitutes. In many parts of the world, margarine has become the best-selling table spread, although butter and olive oil also command large market shares....
, butter
Butter

Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermentation cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications such as baking, sauce making, and frying....
, rice
Rice

Rice is a staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in tropical Latin America, and East Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia, making it the second-most consumed cereal grain, after maize....
, smoked fish
Fish

A fish is any marine biology vertebrate animal that is typically ectothermic , covered with scale , and equipped with two sets of paired fins and several unpaired fins....
 and custard
Custard

Custard is a range of preparations based on milk and Egg s, thickened with heat. Most commonly, custard refers to a dessert or dessert sauce, but custard bases are also used for quiches and other savoury foods....
 powder
Powder (substance)

A powder is a dry, bulk solid composed of a large number of very fine particles that may flow freely when shaken or tilted. Powders are a special sub-class of granular materials, although the terms powder and granular are sometimes used to distinguish separate classes of material....
.

Bixa Orellana Seeds
Annatto is commonly found in Latin America
Latin America

Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages ? particularly Spanish language and Portuguese language, and variably French language ? are primarily spoken....
 and Caribbean
Caribbean

The Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts. The region is located southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and Northern America, east of Central America, and to the north of South America....
 cuisines as both a coloring agent and for flavoring. Central and South American natives use the seeds to make a body paint, and lipstick
Lipstick

Lipstick is a cosmetics containing pigments, oils, waxes, and emollients that applies color and texture to the lip . There are many varieties of lipstick....
. For this reason, the achiote is sometimes called the lipstick-tree.

History


Annatto has long been used by indigenous Caribbean and South American cultures. It is believed to originate in Brazil . It was probably not initially used as a food additive but for other reasons, such as body painting, to ward off evil, and as an insect repellent . The ancient Aztecs called it achiotl, and it was used for Mexican manuscript painting in the sixteenth century . In Jamaica
Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length and as much as in width situated in the Caribbean Sea. It is about south of Cuba, and west of the island of Hispaniola, on which Haiti and the Dominican Republic are situated....
, annatto has had many uses over the centuries, including as a food dye, body paint, treatment for heartburn and stomach distress, sunscreen and insect repellent .

Uses


In Jamaica
Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length and as much as in width situated in the Caribbean Sea. It is about south of Cuba, and west of the island of Hispaniola, on which Haiti and the Dominican Republic are situated....
, annatto has had many uses over the centuries, including as a food dye, body paint, treatment for heartburn and stomach distress, sunscreen and insect repellent. In Venezuela
Venezuela

Venezuela , officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a country on the northern coast of South America.The country comprises a continental mainland and numerous islands located off the Venezuelan coastline in the Caribbean Sea....
, annatto (called locally onoto) is used in the preparation of hallaca
Hallaca

In Venezuela cuisine, an hallaca typically involves a mixture of beef, pork, chicken, capers, raisins, and olives wrapped in maize , bound with string within Plantain#Plantain_Leaves, and boiled or steamed afterwards....
s, perico
Perico (dish)

Perico is a Venezuelan popular dish prepared with scrambled eggs, butter, saut?ed diced onions, and tomatoes. It may also include ground Bell pepper, annatto and occasionally hot peppers....
, and other traditional dishes. In Brazil
Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the List of countries by population country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world....
, both annatto (the product) and the tree (Bixa orellana L.) are called urucum and the product itself may also be called colorau. In the Caribbean
Caribbean

The Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts. The region is located southeast of the Gulf of Mexico and Northern America, east of Central America, and to the north of South America....
 islands, both fruit and tree are popularly called achiote or bija (pronounced "bee-ha") instead of Bixa. In the Philippines
Philippines

The Philippines, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
, it is called atsuete and is used as food coloring in traditional dishes.

It is a major ingredient in the popular spice blend "Sazón" made by Goya Foods
Goya Foods

GOYA Foods Inc is a famous brand of foods sold in many Latin American countries and the United States, with company headquarters in Secaucus, New Jersey....
 .

Use as a food coloring

The annatto seed contains 4.5-5.5% pigments, which consists of 70-80% bixin..

As a food additive
Food additive

Food additives are substances added to food to preserve flavour or improve its taste and appearance.Some additives have been used for centuries; for example, preserving food by pickling , edible salting, as with bacon, preserving sweets or using sulfur dioxide as in some wines....
, annatto has the E number
E number

E numbers are number codes for food additives and are usually found on food labels throughout the European Union. The numbering scheme follows that of the International Numbering System as determined by the Codex Alimentarius committee....
 E160b. The fat soluble part of the crude extract is called bixin, the water soluble part is called norbixin, and both share the same E number as annatto.

In the United States, annatto extract is listed as a color additive “exempt from certification” ( Title 21 Code of Federal Regulations part 73) and is commonly considered to be a natural color. The yellowish orange color is produced by the compounds bixin and norbixin, which are classified as xanthophylls, a type of carotenoid. However, unlike beta-carotene
Beta-carotene

?-Carotene is an organic compound - a terpenoid, a red-orange pigment abundant in plants and fruits. As a carotene with ?-rings at both ends, it is the most common form of carotene....
, another well-known carotenoid
Carotenoid

Carotenoids are organic compound pigments that are naturally occurring in chromoplasts of plants and some other photosynthesis organisms like algae, some types of fungus and some bacterium....
, they do not have the correct chemical structures to be vitamin A precursors. The more norbixin in an annatto color, the more yellow it is; a higher level of bixin gives it a more reddish shade. Unless an acid-proof version is used, it takes on a pink shade at low pH.

Cheddar cheese
Cheddar cheese

Cheddar cheese is a relatively hard, pale-yellow to off-white, and sometimes sharp-tasting cheese originating in the English village of Cheddar, in Somerset....
 is often coloured and even as early as 1860 the real reason for this was unclear: English
English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England who speak English language in England. The English identity as a people is of early medieval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn....
 cheesemaker Joseph Harding
Joseph Harding

Joseph Harding was responsible for the introduction of modern cheese making techniques and has been described as the "father of Cheddar Cheese"....
 stated "to the cheese consumers of London who prefer an adulterated food to that which is pure I have to announce an improvement in the annatto with which they compel the cheesemakers to colour the cheese".

Allergies to annatto


Annatto has been linked with many cases of food-related allergies, and is the only natural food coloring believed to cause as many allergic-type reactions as artificial food coloring. Because it is a natural colorant, companies using annatto may label their products "all natural" or "no artificial colors". However, consumers with food dye sensitivity or intolerance may wish to avoid products containing annatto.

Footnotes