Bixa orellana

Annattostrauch ( Bixa orellana )

The Annattostrauch ( Bixa orellana ) is called in Brazil annatto, achiote in Spanish-speaking countries, in German also of Orleans, Rukustrauch (after French Roucou ) or ( Red ) lipstick tree. The five meter high shrub is native to tropical America but now widely used in Southeast Asia.

Use

The seeds of the heart-shaped pod serve under the name of annatto as a spice, as a natural colorant in food and cosmetic purposes as red body paint with indigenous peoples, which is applied to protect against sunburn, insect repellent and spiritual purposes, as well as industrially as a raw material for the production of lipstick. In the tradition of the people of Tsáchila Achiote is used for typical for this ethnic coloring the hair, to which the Spanish -language name of Colorado's back (Eng. -Colored ).

In southern Mexico and Nicaragua in the achiote seeds is used as a spice. In the form of a paste, it serves as the basis for the popular cochinita pibil in Yucatán or serves as paste ( seed powder with water) to marinate meat. Achiote has a relatively weak but characteristic earthy flavor and gives the food at the same time a beautiful color. As Reisfärbemittel it is also found in South America, for example, in Ecuador, using.

Annatto seeds contain a high percentage of the delta-tocotrienol, a vitamin E-isomer with, inter alia, anti-inflammatory effect. It is produced in the U.S. since 1998 for therapeutic purposes.

The leaves are used as a remedy against, among others bronchitis and inflammation of the eyes.

History

Allegedly discovered Francisco de Orellana (French Orlean ), the plant became the first European in the jungles of the Amazon. The plant pigment was initially used for dyeing textiles or as red ink.

A very early written evidence of the use of body paint gave Diego Álvarez Chanca, a physician on Columbus ' second expedition (September 25, 1493 to June 11, 1496 ): "The splendor of the Indians and the Indians has been to paint themselves, some black, others white or red, and in such diverse patterns that you look exhausted laugh. "

The shrub Bixa orellana L.beschrieb 1535 the Spanish chronicler Fernández de Oviedo in La Historia General de las Indias in detail.

Pictures

Blooms of Bixa orellana

Annatto paste and colored cotton string