- Origin
- Tropical Central and South America
Central America and the Caribbean · Food · № 818
Bixa orellana
Food · Central America and the Caribbean
Annatto (achiote)
Bixa orellana
The red seeds are used as a colouring and spice; traditionally also as a remedy.
Safety notes
Generally safe as a food colouring (annatto); allergic reactions are rare.
Cautions by tradition (2)
- Medicine of the Tukano peoples (Vaupés): External use only. Use clean paint; not on inflamed skin or the navel.
- Kallawaya healing in Bolivia: Not internally in large amounts; the leaves may irritate the bowel.
Preparation
The seeds are ground into a paste or steeped in oil.
Use in traditions
The Maya and other peoples used achiote to colour food and cacao drinks, as body paint and as a remedy for skin complaints. In northern Peru a tea of the leaf or seed is drunk for kidney and prostate complaints, urinary infections and bronchitis.
Applications
Use by tradition
How different herbal traditions describe this herb. Amounts are traditional guidelines checked for obvious errors; they are not medical advice. For poisonous plants no dosage is given on purpose.
Healing traditions of the Americas
Attributed effects
The Maya coloured cacao drinks, food and the body red with the seeds; as a remedy for skin complaints, burns and insect bites, and the leaf for sore throat.
Preparation and amount
Seeds ground into a paste or steeped in oil; leaf as tea or gargle.
Medicine of the Tukano peoples (Vaupés)
Attributed effects
After the first bath the baby is given dots so that it looks like a jaguar: that protects it from the animal, makes it strong and free of hexes, and makes it human.
Preparation and amount
Paint red dots on the face and body of a newborn with the red dye of the seeds.
Caution: External use only. Use clean paint; not on inflamed skin or the navel.
Kallawaya healing in Bolivia
Attributed effects
For diarrhoea and headache; the seeds give dye and keep insects away.
Preparation and amount
Boil the leaves; warmed leaves on the forehead.
Caution: Not internally in large amounts; the leaves may irritate the bowel.
Sources
- en.wikipedia.org
- Rainer W. Bussmann & Douglas Sharon, Medicinal Plants of the Andes and the Amazon (2015)
- Joseph W. Bastien, Healers of the Andes: Kallawaya Herbalists and Their Medicinal Plants (1987)
- Louis Girault, Kallawaya. Guérisseurs itinérants des Andes (1984)
- Richard Evans Schultes & Robert F. Raffauf, Vine of the Soul: Medicine Men, Their Plants and Rituals in the Colombian Amazonia (1992)