Anatto. A food colouring extracted from small reddish-brown seeds contained in a prickly seed pod, the fruit of a tropical South American tree. Although edible, it has little flavour and its culinary value is on the whole limited to colouring properties. It is used to give yellow-red colour to charcuterie, Edam, Mimolette, Cheshire and Cheddar cheese, and dried fish such as haddock as well as pastries, sweets and butter. In some places the seeds are fried in lard to impart their red colour and then discarded. The fat is then cooled and used for cooking and colouring other foods.
