Erbe in Cucina (Cooking with herbs)
Herbal teas and aromatic herbs growing experiences, for passion and cooking.

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March 05, 2008


Annatto (Bixa Orellana) or Achiote in Spanish, it's a spice used in South American cooking.
I heard of it as ingredient for the puerco pibil, then I found this page:
http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/Bixa_ore.html and I fell in love with this plant, it has amazing pods!

Annatto and chamomile bagThe seeds are strange, resembling small stones. The spice is produced from the reddish pulp which surrounds them.

This shown in the picture is what I call 'The Chamomile Method':
I put two seeds on a (used) Chamomile bag. The Chamomile is believed to hurry the germination process... I don't know if it's true, I just tried.
These seeds germinated very soon, so...


Annatto plantI also put some seeds directly into the soil, of course. 3 out of 10 have sprouted, this is a young plant.

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Achiote (Annatto) / Annatto


Comments
Author: Melinda
13/03/2008

Graziana, I m so glad you ve joined The Growing Challenge! The seed pods look so interesting (from the link you gave). What are you going to cook it with?


Author: Graziana
13/03/2008

I m growing annatto mainly for the puerco pibil recipe, but I will use it as a substitute to saffron in classic italian recipes too.


Author: Riccardo
15/03/2008

Sono sempre stato alla ricerca di semi di Annatto..
Tempo fa li ordinai su un sito che però incassò solamente i soldi senza nemmeno rispondere alle mie mail di protesta per non aver ricevuto nulla..
sono ideali per delle salsette piccanti Peruviane..


Author: Flavio (Tlaz) (URL)
28/08/2008

Ciao Graziana,
vedo che ti piace partire proprio dalla nuda terra per arrivare fino alla tavola!

Non so bene quale sia il processo di lavorazione che porta fino all achiote in pasta, ma in questo condimento ci finiscono anche chile guajillo, pepe, aceto, sale e altro.

Non ti sarai mica fatta anche la salina sul terrazzo portandoti l acqua di mare??

:-D

Oggi sto giusto cucinando pollos rostizados sazonados con achiote!
Se vengono buoni, faccio le foto e poi relaziono sul blog.
La cochinita pibíl l ho fatta già tante volte e viene buonissima, lì sì che ci andrebbero le fettine sottilissime di chile habanero con la cipolla sbollentata, solo che non ho mai fatto foto decenti e quindi non l ho ancora messa nel blog.
La vera rogna é trovare le foglie di banano, stavo pensando di andare qui dal vicino, di notte, per fargliene fuori una dalla sua pianta di banano!

;-)


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