Bixa orellana
Very mild, annatto is used more to add color to food than to add flavor. What people call colorau (or colorífico) in the Northeast, a fundamental seasoning in their regional cuisine, is simply ground annatto seeds (compare with colorau). Nevertheless, it has a great culinary value. There is noMoqueca capixaba, for example, without tintura de urucum, that is, oil infused with annatto seeds. This oil is also used, in Espírito Santo, to prepare pirão (fish broth and manioc flour mush). Fun fact: a paste made with annatto seeds, also called urucu in Portuguese, has always been used by the Amazonian Indians to embellish their bodies in thanksgiving rituals.
