🇸🇦 Arabicar
أنّاتو
annatu
Tropical Americas, US
Annatto
14k t
global seed production / year
Peru, Brazil, Kenya lead
4–5%
total pigment in seed coat
bixin + norbixin
80%
bixin share of carotenoids
cis-bixin dominant, lipophilic
E160b
EU food colour code
natural carotenoid, non-allergenic
Visual atlas
Profile
Annatto is an orange-red condiment and food coloring derived from the seeds of the achiote tree, native to tropical parts of the Americas. It is often used to impart a yellow to red-orange color to foods, but sometimes also for its flavor and aroma. Its scent is described as "slightly peppery with a hint of nutmeg" and its flavor as "slightly nutty, sweet, and peppery".
Annatto is the seed of Bixa orellana, a small tropical tree native to the Amazon basin and cultivated across Mexico, Peru, Brazil and the Caribbean. The brick-red seed coat is coated with bixin, a lipophilic carotenoid, and its water-soluble derivative norbixin — the two pigments that give butter, cheddar, Mimolette and Gloucester their orange pull, and Latin-American rice its golden glow. Taste is almost incidental: gentle nutmeg, a whisper of pepper, a mineral earthiness. The colour, not the flavour, is why it travelled. Pre-Columbian peoples used it as body paint before it ever seasoned a stew; today roughly ten thousand tonnes of seed are traded each year, half of it feeding the global food-colour industry as a clean-label alternative to synthetic E102 and E110 dyes.
Origin
Tropical Americas, US.
US
Tropical Americas · Pucallpa, Peruvian Amazon
Process
01Year 2
First flowering
Bixa orellana shrubs planted from seed take 18–24 months to flower — pink-white blossoms close to wild roses, on 3–5 m evergreen trees.
023 months
Pod maturation
Spiny burgundy capsules swell on the branch. Inside each pod, 30–50 seeds develop a waxy, intensely red seed coat — the source of bixin.
03Dry season
Pod harvest
Capsules are cut when they turn brown-red but before they split open and scatter seeds. Peru's main harvest falls May–September; Brazil's across Sep–Feb.
04Sun cure
Dry & thresh
Pods dry open in the sun for 3–5 days, then split. Seeds are rubbed free by hand or in drums, dust washed off with water.
05Separation
Seed or paste
Whole seeds go to food colour extraction (solvent for bixin, alkali for norbixin). Smallholders grind seeds with lard, salt, vinegar, garlic into a paste — Yucatán's recado rojo.
06Storage
Stable year round
Dry seeds store 2 years without losing pigment. Recado rojo blocks keep 6 months refrigerated, released teaspoon by teaspoon into marinades.
Inside the berry
The molecules that make it taste like Kampot — and not like anything else.
Annatto's 4–5% total pigment lives in the aril surrounding the seed. Cis-bixin dominates raw; saponification yields norbixin for water-soluble applications.
4.2%
Bixin
of dry seed weight
0.4%
Norbixin
saponification product
4.8%
Total carotenoids
bixin + minor
0.3%
Essential oil
mild peppery volatiles
Volatile compound profile
- cis-Bixin80.0%
The colour — lipophilic, intense orange-red, odourless.
- Norbixin (post-saponification)8.0%
Water-soluble variant for dairy — Cheddar, Mimolette, Red Leicester.
- trans-Bixin5.0%
Isomer, slightly more stable to heat.
- Geranylgeraniol1.2%
Mildly peppery-waxy terpenoid — the faint flavour behind the colour.
- Tocotrienols1.0%
Vitamin E family, antioxidant background.
- Ishwarane (sesquiterpene)0.4%
Faint nutmeg-peppery note of the fresh seed.
Versus other peppers
| Pepper | Bixin | Total carotenoids |
|---|---|---|
★ Peruvian seed Pucallpa · pure bixin, Yucatán-grade | 4.2% | 4.8% |
Brazilian seed São Paulo · high-yield cultivars | 3.8% | 4.4% |
Kenyan seed Coast · export-dominant for E160b | 3.5% | 4.0% |
Yucatecan paste Mexico · recado rojo, with spices | 1.5% | 2.0% |
Filipino atsuete oil infused lard, table use | 0.4% | 0.5% |
Cuisines
How the world cooks with it.
3 signature dishes
Annatto is the soul of Yucatán. Fused with Seville orange, cumin, oregano, and garlic into recado rojo, it paints every celebratory table bright orange.
- Cochinita pibilgrade: yucateca
Pork shoulder marinated in recado rojo + sour orange, wrapped in banana leaf, slow-roasted.
- Pollo pibilgrade: yucateca
Chicken version of pibil, often served in tacos with pickled red onion.
- Huevos motuleñosgrade: yucateca
Fried eggs over tortilla, black beans, peas, ham, sauced with achiote-tomato salsa.
Around the world
What it's called, from Phnom Penh to Palermo.
🇧🇩 Bengalibn
লটকন
latkon
🇨🇳 Chinesezh
胭脂树
yānzhī shù
🇳🇱 Dutchnl
Annatto
🇬🇧 Englishen
Annatto
🇵🇭 Filipinotl
Atsuete
🇫🇷 Frenchfr
Roucou
🇩🇪 Germande
Annatto
GNgn
Urukú
🇮🇳 Hindihi
सिंदूरी
sinduri
🇮🇩 Indonesianid
Kesumba keling
🇮🇹 Italianit
Annatto
🇯🇵 Japaneseja
アナトー
anatō
🇰🇷 Koreanko
아나토
anato
🇲🇾 Malayms
Jarak belanda
🇵🇹 Portuguesept
Urucum
QUqu
Achiwiti
🇷🇺 Russianru
Аннато
annato
🇪🇸 Spanishes
Achiote
🇮🇳 Tamilta
சாப்பிர
sappira
🇹🇭 Thaith
คำแสด
kham saet
🇹🇷 Turkishtr
Annatto
🇵🇰 Urduur
سندوری
sinduri
🇻🇳 Vietnamesevi
Điều nhuộm
Seasonality
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Peru peak harvestBrazil first harvestDry seed year-round
Pairings
Protein
- Pork shoulder
- Fish escabeche
- Pollo al achiote
Substitutes
- Turmeric (colour only)45% match
- Smoked paprika35% match· soon
- Saffron (colour only, expensive)30% match· soon
- Safflower30% match· soon
Frequent questions
More colour than flavour. Annatto's heavy lifting is visual — 4–5% carotenoid pigment turns fat a glowing orange-red. The taste is whisper-mild: a gentle peppery-nutmeg edge, faintly earthy, with a light waxy floral note from geranylgeraniol. On its own it's barely there; in recado rojo or sazón, cumin, garlic and oregano do the flavour work while annatto does the colour.