INGREDIENT NOTES
How to Make Achiote Oil
chiote (often called annatto) is the ruddy-colored seed of a tree native to Central and South America and an essential ingredient in Latin American cooking. (It’s also used in Asian countries, including Vietnam and the Philippines.) The seeds are covered in a waxy coating full of pigments. When pulverized to a powder, made into a paste, or infused into oil, achiote can bring subtle earthy flavor to all sorts of sauces, marinades, stews, rices, and spice rubs, all the while tinting food a beautiful yellowy orange. For simplicity, we opted for the preground spice to make Puerto Rico’s all-purpose dry seasoning sazón (see recipe, opposite page), which goes into the rub for our Grilled Chicken with Adobo and Sazón (page 5). But it couldn’t be easier to make an infused oil with the whole seeds that you can use in a traditional application such as cooking a sofrito—or sub it for the oil in almost any sauté or stir-fry or even use it.)
