Also called: achiote, anatta, annotto

Annatto comes from a shrub native to the Caribbean and Central and South America. The plant is as popular for its glossy leaves and striking pink flowers as for its colorful seeds.

Although primarily used as a brilliant culinary dye for everything from sauces to cheese, annatto has a light, peppery flavor and rich spicy aroma that figures into many native Latin American and Spanish dishes. Some popular ones included Central and South American pollo en achiote (cooked in banana leaves) and Jamaican salt cod and ackee.