Description
About Annato Extract
Annatto extract can be found in many forms. It may be a powder, paste, oil or as a chunk. Apart from this the annatto seeds can also be used in food for culinary enhancements and flavoring. The procedure to make any of them is a little time taking as well as tedious.
If annatto seeds are being used as it is, it is not really tough. The seeds have a coating of an oily paste that contains bixin. Bixin is a yellow orange carotenoid. It is extracted using aqueous alkaline solution and vegetable oil solvent. Vegetable oil solvent gives oil soluble bixin, Alkaline solution gives water soluble norbixin and Propyline Glycol yields a combination.
For powder form, annatto seeds need to be dried and crushed to extract the powder. Deriving the paste form needs addition of a water, vinegar and other herbs too at times.
Annatto oil is available in flavored as well as unflavored form. It is basically reddish orange colored oil which needs putting a little bit of edible oil in annatto seeds. It is used for cooking in a number of cuisines, but primarily in South America, annatto oil is quite popular.
Annatto Applications
With its multiple advantageous properties annatto is highly demanded in the food industry as well as other industries that use annatto for dying purposes.
For cooking it is used majorly in dairy and bakery products like cheese, butter and other confectionery items.
Other uses of annatto can be found in paint making industry. A number of body paints are made using annatto dye.
Cosmetics like lipsticks and other beauty and body care products. It is used for coloring of moisturizers, creams, face packs etc.
Textiles industry also uses annatto for dyeing textiles and clothes.
It is also used in healing medicines like ointments and plasters.
It is also known to treat fever, dysentery, kidney diseases, etc.
