Annatto

Some colors are nutrients in their own right, and they have antioxidant properties that are beneficial to health. Beta-carotene, annatto, saffron, and turmeric all have these good properties in addition to their color. In fact, the same chemistry that makes them absorb light also helps them to absorb and neutralize dangerous oxygen free radicals in the body. 

Annatto is a colored pigment that is extracted from the Central and South American plant Bixa orellana. The color comes from the resinous outer covering of the seeds of the plant, which is composed of the carotenoid pigments bixin and norbixin and their esters. The central portion of those molecules is the same as that of the molecule beta-carotene, and the yellow-orange color of annatto comes from the same physical chemistry origins as the orange color of beta-carotene. 

Annatto provides color in cheese, butter, margarine, and microwave popcorn. It is often used as a substitute for the expensive herb saffron. It also has antioxidant properties. 

The seeds are used as a flavoring in the form of a powder or a paste, but the main use is as a coloring agent. 

Because annatto binds well to the proteins in dairy foods, it is often used to add color to milk products such as butter, cheese, or puddings. 

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Exempt colorants are made up of a wide variety of organic and inorganic compounds representing the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. Some, like -carotene and 2inc oxide, are essentially pure factory-produced chemicals of definite and known composition. Others, including annatto extract, cochineal extract, caramel, and beet powder are mixtures obtained from natural sources and have somewhat indefinite compositions. 

Annatto Extract. The aimatto tree (Bixa orelland) is a large, fast-growing shmb cultivated in tropical climates, including parts of South America, India, East Africa, and the Caribbean. The tree produces large clusters of brown or crimson capsular fmit containing seeds coated with a thin, highly... 

The colorant is prepared by leaching the annatto seeds with an extractant prepared from one or more approved, food-grade materials taken from a hst that includes various solvents, edible vegetable oils and fats, and alkaline aqueous and alcohoHc solutions (46,47). Depending on the use intended, the alkaline extracts are often treated with food-grade acids to precipitate the annatto pigments, which ia turn may or may not be further purified by recrystallization from an approved solvent. Annatto extract is one of the oldest known dyes, used siace antiquity for the coloring of food, textiles, and cosmetics. It has been used ia the United States and Europe for over 100 years as a color additive for butter and cheese (48—50). 

The chief coloring principle found ia the oil or fat extracts of annatto seeds is the carotenoid hixin (36, R = UH3) (Cl Natural Orange 4, Cl No. 

Annatto extract is sold ia several physical forms, including dry powders, propylene glycol/monoglyceride emulsions, oil solutions and suspensions, and alkaline aqueous solutions containing anywhere from 0.1—30% active colorant calculated as bixia, norhixin, as appropriate. It... 

The chemistry and performance of annatto extract is essentially that of bixia, a brownish red crystalline material that melts at 198°C. It is moderately stable toward light and has good stabiUty toward oxidation, change ia pH, and microbiological attack. Bixia is very stable toward heat up to 100°C, fairly stable at 100—125°C, and unstable above 125°C, where it tends to form 13-carbomethoxy-4,8-dimethyltridecahexanoic acid. 

Alone, beet colorant produces hues resembling raspberry or cherry. When used ia combination with water-soluble annatto, strawberry shades result. 

Hnnatto Food Colors Charles Hansen s Laboratory, Milwaukee, Wis. A brief description of what annatto is and how it is used. 

In addition to the U.S. certified coal-tar colorants, some noncertified naturally occurring plant and animal colorants, such as alkanet, annatto [1393-63-17, carotene [36-884] C qH, chlorophyll [1406-65-17, cochineal [1260-17-9] saffron [138-55-6] and henna [83-72-7], can be used in cosmetics. In the United States, however, natural food colors, such as beet extract or powder, turmeric, and saffron, are not allowed as cosmetic colorants. 

Later it was found growing in South America where the Indians used the red dye from the seeds as a body paint. An extract of the seeds appears on the market as annatto. This extract is used in coloring butter, margarine, and cheese such as Leicester cheese. In Mexican and South American cuisine, it finds special use as a flavor and coloring matter. The seeds are sold under the name achiote in many Latin grocery stores and markets. Ann at o is available as an aqueous solution, as an oleaginous dispersion, and a spray-dried powder. 

Beta-carotene is used in foods to provide color (margarine would look as white as vegetable shortening without it). Another similar molecule, annatto, is used in cheeses. Another famous carotenoid dye, saffron, is used to color rice and other foods. 

Saffron is a spice that is used sometimes for flavor, but mostly for the yellow color it imparts to foods. Because of its expense, saffron is often replaced in recipes by another carotenoid, annatto, or the unrelated dye molecule in turmeric. Like the other carotenoid dyes, saffron is an antioxidant, but its expense makes it unsuitable as a preservative or dietary supplement. 

AMR See aminomethyl propanol, cyclic aminomethyl propanol AMP-95. See aminomethyl propanol amphetamines, 160 amyl p-methoxy cinnamate, 5 amylase, 87, 155 amylopectin, 144-145 amylose, 31-32, 144-145, 152 analgesics. See pain relievers anesthesin. See benzocaine anesthetics, 60, 172-175, 229 annatto, 105-106, 107, 114, 117 antacids, 169 anthocyanins, 109-111 antibacterials, 13, 25, 26,42, 67, 86,... 

Bixa Orellana seeds Bixin, norbixin (annatto) Food colouring... 

Spices snch as paprika, saffron, and annatto, which are traditionally employed in different parts of the world, contain nniqne carotenoids. Fignre 4.2.2 shows the strnctnres of these carotenoids. 

FIGURE 4.2.2 Structures of carotenoids found in paprika (capsanthin and capsombin), saffron and gardenia (crocetin derivatives), and annatto (bixin and norbixin). 

Bixin, a diapocarotenoid with a cis configuration at the carbon 9 and two carboxylic groups (one methylated), accounts for more than 80% of the total carotenoid content in annatto seeds, and has only been encountered to date in these seeds. The amount of red pigments in annatto seeds varies from 1.5 to 4%, depending on the variety. Bixin is the main pigment in commercial annatto powder... 

Mercadante, A.Z. and Pfander, H., Carotenoids from annatto a review, Recent Res. Devel. Agric. Food Chem., 2, 79, 1998. 

Mercadante, A.Z., Composition of carotenoids from annatto, in Chemistry and Physiology of Selected Food Colorants, Ames, J.M. and Hofmann, T.E., Eds., ACS Symposium Series 775, Washington, 2001, chap. 6. 

Scotter, M.J., Castle, L., and Appleton, G.P., Kinetics and yields for the formation of colonred and aromatic thermal degradation products of annatto in foods, Food Chem., 74, 365, 2001. 

Scotter, M.J., Characterization of the coloured thermal degradation products of bixin from annatto and a revised mechanism for their formation, Food Chem., 53, 111, 1995. Zechmeister, L., Cis-trans isomerization and stereochemistry of carotenoids and diphenylpolyenes, Chem. Rev., 34, 267, 1944. 

Colorant containing annatto and Ca caseinate as carrier mixed with water to be added directly to cheese milk yielding uniform colored cheese mass Water-dispersible beadlet of p-carotene is mixed with oil to attein composition that remains stable even in presence of polyphosphates and with antioxidant action even in absence of ascorbic acid Blending carotenoid pigment and soybean fiber (wifii tomato juice) as effective ingredient for dispersion stability... 

Annatto colors (C.I. 75120) E 100 2% norbixin Annatto extract, water, Yellow-orange Cheeses, ice cream, bakery products... 

E 100 1% bixin propylene glycol, potassium hydroxide, mono- and diglycerides Annatto extract in vegetable oil. Yellow-orange beverages Butter, oils, margarines, processed... 

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