Comments on Tastes Like Home: Annatto Seeds, Achiote Oil

"Anatomy of the Annatto" - that's what I call this...

2007-04-25T08:36:00.000-04:00

"Anatomy of the Annatto" - that's what I call this photo essay. I've used the seeds often enough, but never knew its gorgeous provenance.

Dear Kitchen Fairy, Welcome, welcome. I am very gl...

2007-04-17T17:24:00.000-04:00

Dear Kitchen Fairy, Welcome, welcome. I am very glad to have you over. Please, make yourself comfortable and stay as long as you like and come as often as you can. Your input is most appreciated.

Thanks and again, a warm welcome.

Dear,I think I am first time here,But ur face is f...

2007-04-17T13:21:00.000-04:00

Dear,I think I am first time here,But ur face is familier from other blogs,U have got a nice blog here,now onwards I will be a regular visiter.
We call this seed "Kurangan kaya" is a malayalam word,Kurangan means Monkey,I don't know what relation is between monkey and this seed?We also used to colour our plams and foot ..U gave me lot of information about this..Thanks for sharing.

Thank you kind Mandira and Nupur.

2007-04-14T07:46:00.000-04:00

Thank you kind Mandira and Nupur.

what a beautiful vibrant color. Great info cynthia...

2007-04-13T15:25:00.000-04:00

what a beautiful vibrant color. Great info cynthia. Your template looks great too :)

What a beautiful post...lovely pictures and great ...

2007-04-12T10:58:00.000-04:00

What a beautiful post...lovely pictures and great info! I need to get my hands on this stuff :)

Thank you girls - Danya, Usha and Pilar

2007-04-11T16:48:00.000-04:00

Thank you girls - Danya, Usha and Pilar

Cynthia, your blog looks beautifull with all this ...

2007-04-11T11:16:00.000-04:00

Cynthia, your blog looks beautifull with all this color !!!!
Great changes, indeed.

Thats really a wonderful post about annatto seeds....

2007-04-11T08:09:00.000-04:00

Thats really a wonderful post about annatto seeds.As Seema said we most of people came to know about this from ashaji's blog....now from you Cynthia....

Presentation is very excellent.

I have seen this tree at my mom's place in kerala....

2007-04-11T00:02:00.000-04:00

I have seen this tree at my mom's place in kerala. I never knew it had some use. Good Info Cynthia!!
A natural colorant...I ll be collecting those when i go next time:))

Anonymous - please thank your friend for the refer...

2007-04-10T21:46:00.000-04:00

Anonymous - please thank your friend for the referral.

Anonymous - thank you so much for coming by. You a...

2007-04-10T21:45:00.000-04:00

Anonymous - thank you so much for coming by. You are most welcome. Visit and linger for as long as you like :)

I am glad that you have rekindled your interest in food. We all have to be very careful about what we eat these days that is why it is really better to cook home as often as one can.

Once the interest is there, you will see how much you enjoy experiementing with different flavours (well you already said that you are enjoying your diet). My motto has always been everything in moderation. I think that is really the key - moderation.

Thanks for the encouragement to keep on blogging.

Nature and Me - thanks for stopping by. Please vis...

2007-04-10T21:38:00.000-04:00

Nature and Me - thanks for stopping by. Please visit as often as you like.

Sunita - thanks for your kind words, my dear. Maybe you played with it as a child? Check Sia's comment.

Sandeepa - you are right, I think Asha posted about it on her blog sometime but I have not checked out the post. She said she posted for Kalyn's WHB (I am not sure what WHB stands for, I am only repeating from her post :))

The oil is really nice Sandeep, if you can find the seeds, please try making the oil, it flavours and adds a wonderful colour to your food. It is found in the ethnic food asile in supermarkets.

The flavour it gives is subtle, woodsy, smokey kinda. As I said in my post, the oil is used just like regular cooking oil.

Love your blog. I am hypertensive and on a no-salt...

2007-04-10T20:15:00.000-04:00

Love your blog. I am hypertensive and on a no-salt diet. As a result, I had sort of lost interest in food. I stick to my diet religiously, but no salt? I was guided to this blog, by a friend of mine and what it has done is rekindled my interest in my food. I pay more attention now to what I am preparing. I admire the colours of the various dishes. And do you know what? I am actually liking my diet. Thank you very much. Please keep on blogging.

What a beautiful fruit. Haven't used it but I thin...

2007-04-10T19:08:00.000-04:00

What a beautiful fruit. Haven't used it but I think saw it once in Asha's blog
What a nice idea to have such an oil, does it add an extra flavor, what kind ?

Very informative post...well illustrated...the blo...

2007-04-10T10:39:00.000-04:00

Very informative post...well illustrated...the blossoms look really pretty...seem so familiar...but can't really place them...memory sharpness definitely needs some repairing...

Cynthia - I had never known about this until I sto...

2007-04-10T09:25:00.000-04:00

Cynthia - I had never known about this until I stopped by at your blog. Very interesting.

Hey Sharmi! Welcome back! I hope you and the famil...

2007-04-09T19:58:00.000-04:00

Hey Sharmi! Welcome back! I hope you and the family had a great weekend.

hi Cynthia, nice new look to your blog!! liked it....

2007-04-09T19:52:00.000-04:00

hi Cynthia,
nice new look to your blog!! liked it. those eggs looks so beautiful.

cheers
sharmi

Padmaja - You are so right, when the tree is bloom...

2007-04-09T17:54:00.000-04:00

Padmaja - You are so right, when the tree is blooming the flowers and it fruits look vibrant and really brighten up the place. As I was telling Sia, artists use it a lot and it is used in many products as a dye.

Shn - even if you don't get the oil already made, it is easy to make it yourself. One of the links in my post talks about making it. All you need are the seeds which you can get from the ethnic asile in your supermarket and oil.

Thanks, re: the new look of the blog.

Cynthia this annatto tree was there at my father's...

2007-04-09T15:13:00.000-04:00

Cynthia this annatto tree was there at my father's place and we used to redden our palms with it as kids :)) but later learnt from Asha's blog that it can be used for cooking as a coloring agent and now u re saying its used for making oil too...I think next time if I see thus, i wouldnt hesitate to buy a bottle for me :)
Thanks for this info:)

Good Day!
Shn
P.S Hey I liked ur new template too :)

i saw this plant in our nursery when i was really ...

2007-04-09T14:55:00.000-04:00

i saw this plant in our nursery when i was really really young and i remember one of the gardeners telling me that they use in nail polish, i can clearly remember that tree b'coz of its vibrant colour and they look lovely don't they cynthia.
After all these years, i came to know what that is really?
thank u cynthia for all the efforts

@ Bee - Thank you sweetie! You would not believe (...

2007-04-09T12:01:00.000-04:00

@ Bee - Thank you sweetie! You would not believe (actually you would) the hours (change that to weeks) spent trying to work out html, adjusting margins, and choosing a colour scheme. Then I downloaded a font I wanted to use for the blog title only to realise that it would not show up as a true representation on someone's system that did not have that font! Whew, as I said, it took weeks for me to work this out but I am happy with the look now. Again, thank you for the compliment.

i love your new template, cynthia. and great pcis....

2007-04-09T09:12:00.000-04:00

i love your new template, cynthia. and great pcis.

oh cool - Mom always had a bottle of the red stuff...

2007-04-08T21:17:00.000-04:00

oh cool - Mom always had a bottle of the red stuff in the fridge for colouring certain foods, but I never knew what a strange spiky thing the annato was!