A tropical plant of the Bixa genus that produces seeds used to make annatto, a natural orange-red dye and food coloring.
From Spanish 'achiote,' which comes from Nahuatl 'achiotl.' The word traveled from Aztec Mexico through Spanish colonizers to tropical Americas where it became widely cultivated.
Annatto from the achuete plant has colored food and fabric for over 4,000 years—it's one of the oldest natural dyes humans used, predating synthetic colors by millennia and still appears in your cheddar cheese.
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