Spicy Organic Spotlights Annatto, the Achiote-Rooted Spice Behind Latin American Cuisine

McKINNEY, Texas — Annatto and achiote are the same spice. Annatto is the English and food-industry name; achiote is the Spanish-derived term used across Latin America and the Caribbean, tracing back to the Nahuatl word used by the Aztecs for centuries before European contact. As National Hispanic Heritage Month begins September 15, Spicy Organic — a McKinney, Texas-based USDA Certified Organic spice brand — is drawing attention to this culturally significant ingredient and its deep roots in Latin American culinary tradition.

Annatto comes from the seeds of the Bixa orellana shrub, a plant native to Central and South America used by indigenous communities for thousands of years — as a food colorant, a fabric dye, and a culinary seasoning. The brilliant red-orange pigment it contains produces a warm golden hue when heated in oil or liquid, which is why annatto has been a kitchen staple across the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and the Philippines for generations. In Mexico it defines cochinita pibil, the slow-roasted pork dish of the Yucatán Peninsula. In Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic it forms the color base of sofrito and arroz con pollo. In Colombia and Venezuela it adds warmth and color to asado negro and empanada dough.

Despite its deep roots in Latin American food culture, annatto is largely invisible to most North American consumers — even as they consume it daily. The spice already colors cheddar cheese, butter, cereals, and countless packaged foods, making it one of the most widely used natural food colorants in the world by volume. What most consumers haven’t experienced is annatto used deliberately, as an ingredient in its own right, in cooking from the traditions where it originated.

“Annatto is one of those spices that tells a real cultural story,” said Sunil Kumar, Founder of Spicy Organic. “It connects modern American kitchens to centuries of Latin American and Caribbean food tradition through something as simple as the color in a dish. National Hispanic Heritage Month felt like the right moment to share that story and introduce people to an ingredient they’ve probably been eating their whole lives without knowing it.”

Demand for annatto as a natural food coloring has been growing steadily. The FDA’s 2026 announcement to phase out petroleum-derived synthetic food dyes has accelerated interest in plant-based colorants, and annatto — approved by both the FDA and the EU — is among the most technically stable natural alternatives available, remaining effective across a wide range of heat, light, and pH conditions.

Spicy Organic carries USDA Certified Organic annatto in both whole seed and ground powder form, available at SpicyOrganic.com, Amazon, Walmart, and seven H-E-B locations across the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The brand’s full guide to annatto — covering its culinary uses, the achiote vs. annatto naming story, and recipes from Latin American cuisine — is available at SpicyOrganic.com/blogs/news.