The jungle plant that offers many merchandise their pink hue is the invention of Amazonian Indians — one other present from tribal peoples to all humanity
At first look, it’s not simple to search out an apparent connection between uncontacted Indians within the rainforest of north-western Brazil, cheeses corresponding to British Cheddar and French Maroilles, pink lipstick and cinema popcorn.
What hyperlinks all of them, nonetheless, is a tree with pink flowers and heart-shaped leaves referred to as the ‘achiote’ tree, which is Indigenous to South America. The identify is derived from the Nahuatl phrase ‘achiotl’; it is usually referred to as ‘aploppas’, or ‘urucu’ within the Tupi language.
The rose-coloured seeds of the tree, contained inside spiny capsules, produce a pigment generally referred to as annatto, for which Indian tribes have lengthy had many makes use of. The Aztecs are thought to have added it to chocolate drunk by their monks; at present, the Tsáchila of Ecuador use it to dye their hair pink and the Zo’é of Brazil to color their our bodies. Many tribes make use of it as a cloth dye and meals spice.
South American Indians additionally apply annatto medicinally: as an aphrodisiac and a digestive, a sunscreen and examine repellent. The curanderos, or natural healers of the Peruvian Amazon, squeeze the juice from the recent leaves to remedy eye infections.
It is just in recent times that annatto has arguably change into the world’s most essential pure meals colourant, subsequent to caramel. When the seeds are crushed and soaked in water, they produce an orange-yellow or pink paste, which creates the yellow hue of Cheddar and Maroilles, the orange-tint of salad oils and popcorn, and the colourful flush of pink lipsticks. It additionally serves as an alternative to saffron, and to deal with excessive ldl cholesterol, thinning hair and hypertension.
Annatto is among the many presents that tribal individuals have given mankind, and is testomony to their encyclopedic information of their ecosystems.
