The brick red seeds and their pods of the small evergreen annatto tree, native to tropical South America, are ground to a paste or powder and used as a dye and for coloring food without adding any discernible flavor.
Botanically name Bisa orellana became popular worldwide and at present it is planted and naturalized almost pantropically.
It has large heart shaped leaves with a papery texture and clusters of rosy pink flowers about two inches across.
Annatto attracted the attention of early explores when they found some Indians in South America using it as a body paint. Annatto seeds were very much appreciated by the Andean Indians, who used them in barter with Amazonian Indians.
Even the Incas were fond of these valuable seeds and bartered to obtain them.
The seeds have a faint peppery, nutmeg flavor and re used as a spice in Latin American and Caribbean cooking; they were introduced to the Philippines by the Spanish, where they are used extensively to color and flavor noodles dishes, meat stews and curries.
Due to its solubility in lipids and non-toxic it is widely used in the food industry for giving red to orange-yellow colors to cheese, butter, oils, margarine, ice-cream, candy, bakery products and rice.
Annatto seeds
