The Annatto seeds come from the Annatto bush which has been growing in South America for centuries. These trees vary in size from a bush to a small tree. The trees have heart shape green leaves. When they bloom, the flower petals can be white or pink in coloring. When the seeds come on they grow in pods, they are red in color, with a hard hairy skin which turns a blackish brown as they ripen. When they are ripe they feel the air with a slightly flowery odor. The seeds are small and triangular in shape ranging in size from 1/8 0f an inch to 3/16 of an itch. These seeds are pounded into powder or cooked into oil.
The popularity of the Annatto seed grew and was taken west and introduced Europe 17th to 19th centuries by an explorer called Francisco de Orellana which becomes another name for the Annatto seed, along with the names, such as achuete and atsuwete. The seed are used for dying and a natural dye for coloring foods such as butter, margarine, smoked fish, confectionary and cheese such as Cheshire, Leicester, Edam, Munster and Colby. The dye is also used for textiles and cosmetics such as lipsticks and soaps.
The Annatto seeds are used as a spice because some cooks says it has a slightly sweet taste while others say it slightly bitter or peppery. Some cooks say it has no taste at all and they use it for the color.
The Annatto seeds are excellent used as spices in food such as beef, chicken, eggs, fish, legumes, squash, sweet potatoes, sweet peppers, tomatoes, pumpkin, soups, stews, okra beans and rice. Because of its many uses with Mexican dishes and its natural healthy non-fat properties, it has become a favorite of the naturalist and the vegetarians.
Some of the recipes which you can find online are Cochinita Plib, pork dish Maya style,
Achiote Recado, and Maya chicken with orange spicy orange paste. Some of these recipe are cooked in oil from the Annatto seed. The oil is made by heading a half a cup of seeds to a cup of corn oil, you then dip the seeds out and add oregano, black pepper, all spice, cumin, garlic and Yucatecan chiles. Some believe Aztecs colored their drinking chocolate with the dye from the seeds.
When used as a dye remember that the color of the dye is affected by the age of the seeds. The dye can range from yellows to brownish-yellow. South American Warriors were suppose to have dyed their faces with this dye.
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