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Glite Dictionary
🧀 A food coloring 🌱 A tropical plant
annatto

annatto

8.2
A tropical shrub or small tree whose seeds make an orange-red color used in food and cosmetics
  • noun
  • /əˈnɑːtoʊ/
translation icon : achiote
  • The chef used annatto to color the rice.
  • annatto seeds
  • annatto plant

Examples

  • Traditional dishes in Latin America often use annatto for its color and mild flavor.

  • The cheese gets its yellow color from annatto added during production.

  • Farmers harvest annatto seeds to sell as natural food coloring.

  • I love the flavor that annatto adds to dishes.

  • The chef added annatto to the sauce to give it a rich orange color.

  • You can find annatto seeds in the spice aisle, where they are sold for culinary and cosmetic applications.

  • Many traditional recipes call for annatto to give dishes a vibrant orange-red hue.

Synonyms

achiote
vsannatto
  • Specialized
1 9.9

A tropical shrub or small tree with bright red seeds people use to make a red dye and spice

focuses on dye use including cosmetics as well as culinary pigment
urucum
vsannatto
  • US
9.9

A tropical plant whose seeds give a red color and are used as a spice

is the English name highlighting orange red dye used in food and cosmetics

Surface Forms

annatto singular
annattos plural

Etymology

Annatto comes from Spanish anatto, taken from a Native American word for the tree and its seeds. So annatto can also mean the tropical shrub that produces the seeds used for the 'red-orange' dye.